Our Heroes Fall
by TWI1IGHTMAST3R
Summary: Xehanort won the battle against the Guardians of Light, and now rules the worlds with his remaining Seekers of Darkness. Two years later, when he hears that Kingdom Hearts chose new Guardians destined to destroy him, he plans to eliminate them in order to stay in power. Roxas is one of these Guardians, and let's say he never expected to be one... Warnings inside. NO OCS. After KH3.
1. Part I: New Guardians Rise

**Hello everyone!**

**I know I said I was going to take a break from writing, but I just couldn't help myself. This story has been in my head for so long and I needed to get it out.**

**So this story exists for several reasons: 1) I needed to write something new, something fresh, this is my way of doing that. 2) I feel like I need to work on character development, and this story is going to have a lot of that if all goes according to plan. 3) Just needed... to write... something... I meant to only _start_ this chapter like two days ago and I just couldn't stop writing. Guess that's what I get for trying to take a break.**

**Warnings: There will be character death in this story. I am not going to say who/what/when, but there will be a casualty or two along the way. There should also be torture, but that won't go into as much detail as my other stories. **

**Also you should note that this takes place after KHIII but with the Guardians in fact losing the battle against Xehanort. I am sticking canon with the information we already know about it though. I also do not know if I am going to add more Final Fantasy characters in this story, but I'll leave that up to you guys.**

**I don't own Kingdom Hearts by the way, or anything in this story really. If I did, Kingdom Hearts III would have been out a long time ago... But hey at least it is in development now!**

**And that's pretty much all you need to know. However, if you are curious about what a theme song for this story is going to be (since every KH game has one) I am doing something different. As long as I don't forget, I will be putting a short set of lyrics to a song I think fits this chapter at the end of each chapter. I think it would kind of help you guys visualize the chapter better once you finished reading it. That and I might be able to help you find more awesome songs!**

**So please, hold on to your Gummi Ships, Bahamuts, Keyblade gliders, and enjoy the ride...**

* * *

_The Guardians of Light are dead; that was the first thing I was told._

_I guess I really should have expected it; the last thing I remember when I was still with Sora was a grey and black keyblade coming right towards his chest—our chest at the time. I knew I had to be released some way or another, and that was just how it happened._

_Did I expect it to end the way it did? No. I was _inside_ Sora at the time; I saw each of them prepare for this battle for a long time. But the Seekers of Darkness seemed to be more prepared then they were._

_I didn't get to see all of them die; thankfully Sora didn't want to witness any deaths just as much as I did. The one who looked like me, that was the only death I remember clearly. My field of vision was a little blurry at the time, but I also remember the sight of a figure lying on the ground, her red hair sprawled out against the dry land…_

_Sora was next after that. He was so weak at the time, making me weak as well, so I my vision was not the best, but I remember seeing a grey and black keyblade with a blue eye on it. Next thing I knew, I was at Destiny Islands, lying on the cold ground with no idea as to how I managed to get there._

_I knew at that moment Sora was killed, setting me free. I knew it was only a matter of time before Xehanort would come out to the worlds, announcing his victory._

_You could only guess what happened next. Since Xehanort had killed the Princesses of Heart, not only where the worlds in complete darkness, but it also caused the old man to be granted the X-Blade. He declared that he did see what lies beyond Kingdom Hearts, and since he had the power to still open it, the worlds would forever be in his command. No one argued with it, the X-Blade's power was too strong for anyone to fight against Xehanort._

_The worlds just went down from hill from there. Luckily, for me, Xehanort didn't even bother with me when he learned of my re-existence. Thing was Xehanort only cared about getting rid of Sora, so I was practically useless to him._

_Something tells me Xehanort knew though, knew why I couldn't summon Oathkeeper and Oblivion, and since I lost that ability, he thought I was useless. Honestly, I agree with him, ever since I was brought back, I could only summon Kingdom Key, no duel wielding. No matter how hard I try or how many possibilities I come up with, I can't find out why I can only summon one. It's not that I don't think I am entirely useless, I don't even think Xehanort thinks that, it's just, since I lost my ability to wield two keyblades, I am not useful enough to Xehanort._

_If it meant Xehanort would leave me alone, I was fine with not being able to wield Oathkeeper and Oblivion, anything to keep him away from me._

_That was two years ago, and still to this day the worlds are still under Xehanort's control, with no way to over throw him._

_Or, that is what I believed until I heard the knock at my door._

…

Xehanort walked through the halls of the castle of Hollow Bastion calmly, his footsteps echoing off the walls being the only noise heard. Every few months since his victory in the Keyblade Graveyard, he would do this same walk to the very top of the castle he now called his own, all for the same reason.

It didn't take long for the old man to make it into the top room. Unlike many of the other rooms, in this one you could practically feel the energy and power soaring through it due to the certain keyblade resting in a display case directly in the middle.

The X-Blade was its name. The seven Princesses of Heart and darkness are what made it up, and that power was just enough to open the door to the almighty Kingdom Hearts. Xehanort was very cautious when it came to opening the door to Kingdom Hearts, he had only seen what lies beyond it once, and not even his fellow Seekers of Darkness were permitted to open the door. It was not like they could anyway, the only way to open it was with the X-Blade and Xehanort made sure to keep it locked up, but displayed so it would be a constant reminder to those that he was the only one that could use it.

The X-Blade had given Xehanort power, and to him that was everything he could ever need. Since the Blade was made of the Princesses of Heart, he also used the key to unlock the final keyhole in this world, giving him supreme rule over all the worlds. He still remembered the day clearly, the rush of darkness that came out of the keyhole and filled the worlds, what an amazing feeling it was.

Xehanort looked to the mighty key before he moved on, walking to a short set of steps on a level barely higher than the rest of the room. It was there, where Xehanort stopped, placing his hands behind his back, patiently waiting for something. And it didn't take long for a corridor of darkness to appear that had the slightest hint of purple surrounding it.

Young Xehanort came walking out of the corridor, his eyes staring straight into those of his future self. The two nodded at the same time before the older Xehanort began to speak. "Welcome back to this time," he began. "Was the time travel journeying a peaceful one?"

Ever since Xehanort won the battle against the lights, he had given his past self a simple task: stay in the lanes of time. This way, Young Xehanort could travel to other time periods, most noticeably the future, to be sure no one would interrupt Xehanort's rule over the worlds. Unfortunately, if someone did try to stop him in the future, Young Xehanort would not be able to stop it, since traveling to the future with the worlds in this condition had its limits which did not allow him to interfere with anything the future holds.

But Xehanort figured he didn't have to worry about that, no one has stood up to him in two years; why would they try to stop him so suddenly?

Young Xehanort shook his head. "Never mind that," he said with a stern look in his eyes. "There is something we must speak of, about something I saw in the future."

Master Xehanort stopped in his tracks and turned to his younger self with the slightest worry in his eyes. What was he talking about?

"You have my attention," he said to the younger version of himself.

Young Xehanort took in a breath. "I have seen something that could be our plan's undoing."

The two Xehanorts looked at each other for a long time when the younger one said that. The words were just so sudden; normally the two would have a conversation before Young Xehanort would say that everything in the future is still going accordingly. But this was different, this undoing was so important that Young Xehanort didn't even try to talk with his older self-first, he just skipped straight to the news.

But what did Xehanort have to worry about, his younger self must have just misinterpreted something.

"What has occurred in the future that made you come to believe this?" Xehanort asked, his arms moving to rest at his side.

Young Xehanort looked as if he did not want to say it, as if he figured Xehanort would know what he was talking about. But the old man was clueless. His older self probably thought that it was just a minor plot hole in the plan that could be fixed easily with just a bit of tweaking. But it was most certainly not the case.

"I have seen our death."

Silence came over the two quicker than darkness came over light in this world. Xehanort knew at that moment that his younger self did not misinterpret anything, this was real.

"What happened?" He commanded to know, "Who caused such a crime against the Ruler of all Worlds?"

Young Xehanort looked down at his older self's hands, seeing that they were formed in the shape of a fist. Seeing this, he took several steps away from his older self and began to pace, trying to calm himself. Young Xehanort as just as mad at this as Master Xehanort was, but he was even more mad at his older self for a reason he had yet revealed to him.

Since pacing did not work, Young Xehanort finally spoke to the older man angrily. "I thought we had control over Kingdom Hearts."

"What are you talking about, we do have control over it—"

"Clearly we don't since Kingdom Hearts has chosen new Guardians of Light." Young Xehanort spat.

Xehanort froze again, not believing what his younger self was saying. But when he looked into his eyes, he knew he was not lying or playing any trickery on him. He was always known to have eyes that could tell truth from lie, and right now all he saw was truth.

"That's not possible," Xehanort still tried not to believe. "Kingdom Hearts is under our command now."

Young Xehanort shook his head. "Even our power and darkness cannot stop Kingdom Hearts from doing what it _thinks_ needs to be done."

"How did you learn of this? What did you see exactly?" Older Xehanort questioned.

Young Xehanort stared off into the distance with no clear indication of what he was staring at exactly. "I saw you, cowering over the nobody of Sora, who brought Kingdom Key down on your heart. He didn't hold back anything, there was only pure anger in his eyes, but when he ended your life, relief came over him. Your body dissolved into the hundreds of lights that made up you, that was all I managed to see."

Young Xehanort's extension to detail made Xehanort even more frightened then he was before, but he continued to hide it.

"Before he ended our life, he yelled out 'It is about time the seven of us finished what the old Guardians started.' I managed to piece two and two together, that is how figured it out." Young Xehanort didn't take his eyes off whatever he was staring at.

"Did you see any of the other new Guardians?" Xehanort asked.

Young Xehanort said nothing.

"Did you?" Xehanort asked again.

"Unfortunately no," Young Xehanort finally said. "As of right now, Sora's nobody is the only known new Guardian. The others shouldn't be hard to find though, with the worlds in darkness, it is easy to spot a growing light."

Xehanort turned away from his other self. "Those keybladers… They just don't know when to die do they?" He asked himself. "Fine, if they chose to come back and attempt to stop me, we will just have to kill them."

"If Kingdom Hearts chose new Guardians this time, they will only replace the old ones, it would be a continuous cycle." Young Xehanort informed.

"I don't care if I have to keep killing them for the rest of my life!" Xehanort was yelling now. "If they end my life, everything we worked for would account to nothing, _nothing_. I am not going to let these new Guardians take it all away from me. If Kingdom Hearts wants to keep making new Guardians until the day I take my last breath, so be it, I will kill every last one of them if it means I will stay in power."

Xehanort stopped and looked to his younger self. "How far away is this event?" He asked.

"Several months," Young Xehanort replied. "A very limited time indeed, if we plan to kill them, we must act fast."

"Yes we must." Xehanort placed his fingers on his chin. "I does not matter, we will end them either way. If I need to turn them against themselves to kill them, so be it, if I need to pry them away from each other, it shall be done, I will—"

Before Xehanort could say anything else, his younger self silenced him, hushing him instantly. Xehanort was confused by his younger self's actions until the young one said, "Someone is listening."

Xehanort didn't move an inch when his younger self said this. How could someone be listening? Did someone _break in_ to his castle?

The answer soon came to him when he saw a shadow quickly make its way towards the exit, running in an agile manner that made him almost impossible to see, but just enough to be noticed by the Xehanorts.

"Stop sleuth!" Young Xehanort yelled, summoning his keyblade instantly and flinging it at the mystery shadow, but the figure moved out of the way before the keyblade could hit him, and went through the exit.

"We must stop him!" Xehanort yelled as the two quickly ran towards the exit, back into the staircase that allowed them to see the figure better. However, due to the staircase traveling in a spiral pattern, they could still not get a good view on the figure. It seemed like forever, but the figure and the Xehanorts made it to the bottom of the stairs into another hallway that was lightly lit by the tall, wide, human heighted windows that allowed the sun to shine through.

Before the figure could continue to run, another figure at the other end of the hallway entered the room, which the two Xehanorts where relieved to see.

"And where do you think your heading?" Xigbar, also known as Braig to some others, said. Being one of the only eight that survived the battle against the lights, the Xehanorts had their full trust in him, and they knew that they had the figure cornered now.

Since they were in the light now, the three Seekers of Darkness managed to see the figure clearly, who had on a black Organization XIII coat with the hood up so they could not identify him. Clever.

"I hope you understand that impersonating an Organization member is prohibited by law." Xehanort said calmly. Even though the Seekers of Darkness had moved on to white Organization coats instead of black, the use of wearing one of the coats was not allowed by law.

The figure let out a low growl under his hood, identifying himself as a male, but they still did not figure out who it was.

"You have nowhere to run sunny, might as well turn yourself in." Xigbar said as he began to walk closer to the center of the hallway where the masked figure was standing. While he did that, the two Xehanorts also walked closer to the center, leaving the figure with little room to run.

But before the three could stop him and place him under arrest, the figure did the unthinkable, he turned to face one of the windows in the hallway, ran full speed, and jumped at it, breaking the glass instantly, allowing himself to fall.

The three could not believe the figure just did that; they were one floor below the highest floor of the castle, falling from that height would be suicide. The three quickly ran to the now broken window, positioning their necks to look down at the falling figure, whose coat flapped as the wind continued to push on him. The three could not see since he was already so far down, but the figure then pulled something out of his pocket and threw it below him. And, before the three could blink, whatever he had thrown turned into a red bahamut with a large wing span of at least five feet on both sides. The figure then landed on the bahamut, looked up at the three Seekers of Darkness, and then flew his dragon off into the distance, completely out of sight.

A summon gem, even more so clever. Whoever had broken into this castle certainly came prepared to get in without anyone noticing and break out without any issues.

"Should we try and follow him boss?" Xigbar asked Xehanort.

"No, he is already out of sight, there is no way we could track him," Xehanort said. "But I do know this: whoever that now knows of our plan, he most certainly is probably going to get to the Guardians before we do."

"That will not happen as long as we act now." Young Xehanort said as the three fixed their necks and stepped back, looking at the broken window.

"You must return to your own time," Xehanort said to his younger self. "If anything is to happen, we must make sure you do not get killed, that would only destroy myself and everything we worked for throughout time."

Young Xehanort nodded at this. "But how are you going to act before them?"

"Simple," Xehanort said, "Xigbar, gather the other up some of our soldiers and Seekers of Darkness, we are going to Destiny Islands to 'have a word' with Sora's nobody."

…

Aerith's eyes looked around cautiously, staring at the several abandoned store shops and houses as she walked along the pathway. It was sad to her, Hollow Bastion used to be so magical, mystical, and full of wonder that would make anyone feel at home as soon as they arrived here. But that feeling was now gone, it left ever since Xehanort came here.

She still remembered the day vividly. When she saw a Gummi Ship come out of the sky, landing towards the place where they battled the 1000 heartless, she thought it was the Guardians, finally returning home with the news that Xehanort's chaos had ended. She smiled as the whole town crowded to the place before they landed; smiling ear to ear as the hatch began to open, revealing the heroes.

Only problem was that it was not the Guardians of Light _(her friends) _that came out of the Gummi Ship, it was Xehanort and his remaining Organization members, announcing _their_ victory.

She wanted to run, _run_ away when she saw them but she forced herself to stay. Each word they said terrified her. When they claimed they would be staying on this world, she received chills down her spine, even more so when they said they would be occupying the castle and arresting anyone that resided in it if they refused to leave. And she nearly fainted when they officially announced that they killed her friends, and that there would be no one to save them anymore.

But nothing scared her more when Xehanort brought out that weapon, _the X-Blade_, and showed it off, much like a pampered child would when they received a toy everyone had been talking about for weeks. She knew that whoever controlled that cursed blade that they would be in charge, and no one would question it because it had that much power. Power scared people, and that was exactly Xehanort's tactic.

However, she tried to get her mind off that and just continued to walk, even though it was hard to do so. When she tried to look down, the sight of the homeless adults and children alike would be sitting down, leaning their tired backs against the crumbling buildings. There were so many people left without homes now, and if it where up to Aerith, she would take every one of them home, wrap them in a blanket for warmth, and hug them, reassuring them that everything would be okay. But she knew she could not do so, Xehanort's soldiers would notice right away and arrest her for 'suspicious activity.'

It wasn't like she was already hiding something from Xehanort and his shoulders, who still hadn't managed to figure anything out, but bringing more people in on the secret would only catch their attention. Bringing in people would only risk everything they are trying to accomplish at stake.

It didn't take long for her to eventually arrive back at the place she called home, even though it technically belonged to Merlin. The wizard had to leave this world after the death of King Mickey, since Minnie, now a widow, was having trouble running the kingdom by herself. Merlin, being the saint that he is, volunteered to help immediately, and told the others while he was gone they were welcome to live at his house and make it as 'at home' as they wanted to. Only problem was Merlin nearly was killed trying to get there, since he left the world illegally, but he managed to slip past the soldiers before he could get caught.

As she placed her hand on the doorknob, Aerith looked back over her shoulder, seeing no guards patrolling the streets. She breathed a sigh of relief as she then entered the house, closing the door carefully behind her and locking the door. Upon entering, she observed her surroundings. The house was mostly the same since it was when the Guardians were still, well, _here_, but since Xehanort announced a new law that did not allow anyone to own computers or any form of technology anymore, they had to dispose of Cid's computer. A welcoming fireplace was now taking the computers place, which Aerith enjoyed very much.

Only thing was, Aerith couldn't help but laugh at the sight of it. The thing about that fireplace was it hid something that could potentially get them all killed if Xehanort and his soldiers found out since they were breaking multiple laws. But they knew how to hide these kinds of things, and they had been hiding it for a little bit more than a year now, so if they didn't find out then, they won't find out ever.

After she looked at her surroundings, Aerith's eyes moved over to look at the table that was placed at the far left of the house, where some of her friends where currently seated. Yuffie was the first to actually notice her, and she stood up immediately. Yuffie's sudden standing was quickly noticed by Stitch, who was pleased by Aerith's sight and ran to her immediately, and Tifa, who acknowledged her, but remained seated.

"Hey! You were starting to worry me, where were you?" Yuffie commanded to know.

Aerith grinned at Yuffie's panic and bent down, greeting Stitch and picked him up. "I don't know, just needed to get my mind cleared." She used her free hand to pat Stitch on the head. "This place is arguably the safest place in Hollow Bastion, but staying in her too long drives me crazy."

"Better to go crazy then get killed out there by some idiot soldiers." Tifa murmured.

"Shush!" Yuffie exclaimed, "The soldiers might hear you!"

"If of all, we are in our house Yuffie, they can't hear us from in here." Tifa responded. "And you really think I'm afraid of them? Most of them hardly know how to fight, their just stronger than everyone else 'cause half the population is skin and bones from starvation."

Aerith tried to smile at Tifa, but she just couldn't find the strength to do so. No one has been the same since the Guardians lost and Xehanort took over, but Tifa was probably the one that was the most affected by it all. She was still the Tifa everyone knew and loved just… not as much _her_ anymore.

Wanting to change the subject, Aerith found something to ask. "Where are the others?" She questioned.

"Leon and Cid are _in the basement_ _working_ on something," Yuffie said winking. Aerith knew exactly what she meant and winked back. When Yuffie came up with the idea for code names, everyone laughed at her, but in reality, it really saved them. "I think the Gullwings are downstairs too, not sure what they are up to though."

"What about Cloud?" Aerith asked, concerned about her longtime friend.

"Don't really know where he headed off too." Yuffie replied. "He just… left."

Aerith chuckled, placing Stitch down on the floor as she did so. "Sounds like something he would do."

The alien, who was not very pleased about not getting attention from Aerith anymore, quietly walked away and lied down in his dog bed to sleep.

Before she could say anything else, Aerith sat down at the table with Yuffie following her lead. Then, in a quiet voice, Aerith asked, "What are Cid and Leon really doing _in the basement_?"

Tifa sat up straight when she asked this. "They've been working at the computer all day." She said in the same tone Aerith did. "They have been tracking Xehanort's whereabouts all day, but last time I checked they said he's just been in the castle all day along with his lackeys."

Aerith leaned back in her seat. "That's odd; normally he sends at least one of his Seekers of Darkness out to another world to make sure the soldiers are doing their job."

"That's exactly what Leon said." Yuffie said. "But that's the only thing they found. None of them have left the castle, big deal."

Aerith looked to Tifa, who had a pensive look on her face. "What you thinking Tifa?" She asked.

Tifa looked to Aerith. "I don't know, it's just…" She paused. "What if they aren't leaving the castle, because something happened?"

"Like what?" Yuffie questioned.

Tifa was about to reply 'I don't know' but before she could, a knock at the door stopped them. Aerith was the one to rise out of her seat and head for the door, unlocking it as she did so, and open it up.

Only thing was she was not expecting Cloud to quickly grab the door from her, enter, and slam it shut.

"Cloud!" She exclaimed, causing the others to rise up out of their seats. "What was that about?"

Cloud was breathing heavily, clearly exhausted from something. "Had to get in here quick, there were so soldiers around so it was the perfect opportunity." He responded.

"Why, what happened?" Yuffie asked.

Cloud did not respond at first and only continued to breathe heavily. But Aerith noticed that it wasn't just exhaustion that was stopping him from answering, she noticed that he was almost _afraid_ to give them the answer.

"Don't ask how I managed to do it," Cloud was scaring them at this point, "But I got into that old man's castle."

The room fell silent at that moment until Tifa stormed forward. "Are you and idiot?" She exclaimed. "Seriously, what the _hell_ made you think it was a good idea to do that? How did you even manage to pull that off?"

"Cause I've been doing it for a couple weeks now."

Honestly, Aerith and Yuffie weren't surprised when Tifa slapped Cloud right across the face.

"Are you mad?" Tifa asked, trying to control her anger.

"Please, it doesn't take an idiot to break into that place. I've been doing it for weeks now and he just noticed today." Cloud said. "I got away without anyone finding out who I was, don't have such a heart attack."

"How do you know he's not on your trail?" Tifa commanded to know.

"I cleared my trail the same way as I do every day." Cloud said. "He just saw me rid my bahamut off, but he was not in the mood to send anyone to chase after me. I just landed outside of the town and got rid of my Organization coat since it was too dangerous to keep around anymore since I wore it. It's ashes now."

"We have a limited supply of those coats and you almost got caught." Tifa placed her hand on her forehead. "No wonder Xehanort didn't leave his castle today."

Aerith gave a rare death glare to Cloud. "That was a pretty dumb move Cloud, if he caught you, you could have been killed, or worse." She said, her green eyes looking into his.

Cloud laughed. "You guys aren't going to be saying that when I tell you what I found out."

The three girls looked at him directly, asking him without words to tell them what he found.

"Saw the old man talking to his time-traveling-younger-self, in a few months' time Xehanort is supposed to die by _seven new_ Guardians of Light."

No one said anything for several minutes.

"Are you sure that's what you heard?" Aerith asked.

Cloud nodded.

Out of excitement, Yuffie began to fist pump. "Ansem was right!" She exclaimed happily. "Ansem the Wise was right!"

Aerith almost didn't believe Cloud's words until she looked to Tifa, who was smiling. This was a miracle itself for Aerith since Tifa hasn't smiled in years, _years._ When she saw that, she knew it had to be true.

"We have been preparing for this day for a long time; we have to tell the others about this." Tifa said, her smile fading.

"If you want to tell them, we have to tell them fast and get to Destiny Islands." Cloud added.

The three were puzzled. "Why?" Aerith asked.

Cloud looked to the ground before he looked back up at them. "The only Light they managed to find the identity to was Roxas, and they are planning to go and kill him."

* * *

_**"It was like a nightmare**_

_**And it's painful for me**_

_**Because nobody wants to die to fast.**_

_**Remember the day of grief**_

_**Now it's strange for me**_

_**I could see your face,**_

_**I could hear your voice..."**_

**~The Reluctant Heroes by Hiroyuki Sawano (I FLUFFING LOVE THIS ANIME OH MY GOSH)**

* * *

**Hope you guys enjoyed the first chapter! I know it was kind of a huge set up, but hey, every story needs one of those.**

**So if you do review, can you guys tell me if you want new FF characters in this story? I don't know if I am going to put them in here, but if you guys want them, then I will do so!**

**So please R&R to tell me what you think and look out for the next chapter!**


	2. The First Guardian

"_Earlier this morning, it was reported that someone had broken into Master Xehanort's castle here in Hollow Bastion. No suspect is yet in custody, but the town soldiers highly recommend to report any suspicious activity…"_

Roxas tuned out most of the television's annoying news report the moment the broadcasters mentioned that old man's name. The nobody rarely ever turned on the television, but since he was so bored today, he decided to flip through the channels to see what was on. Only problem with that was the broadcast was on_ every single station._ Xehanort must really want this guy that broke into his castle dead if he made all the channels stop to put up this news.

After several more moments of the broadcasters going over what they knew about the masked intruder, he came to the conclusion that the regular stations were not going to come on anytime soon, so he turned the television off. He sighed as he ran his hand through his hair, knowing that his boring day wasn't about to get any more interesting than this.

Roxas did have to admit though; he was slightly interested about the whole intruder at Xehanort's castle thing. It was about time _someone_ tried to get some information about him out to the public. That old man only wants people to look at him like a god with no weaknesses what so ever, whoever broke into the castle was probably trying to find answers that could finally end him. The person must have had it all planned out if he got into the castle and escaped without leaving any evidence behind.

The news was on every channel, that had to mean something too. Whoever that person was must have found out some important information if Xehanort wants to 'put him to justice' so bad. Silently, the nobody hoped that whatever that information was would get out to the public and spread to Destiny Islands, he would love to hear about what Xehanort is freaking out so much.

After he sat in his seat in silence for several more moments, Roxas finally got up to look around his house. When he found it two years ago, it was completely empty aside from a few pieces of furniture, which gave him the indication that whoever it was must have left in a hurry. Whoever lived here before hasn't come back to claim it or anything, so technically it was Roxas's home. It was small, having only one bedroom, one bathroom, and a small sitting area and kitchen and it only had a few new pieces of furniture alongside the ones he found in this house when he got here, but he was fine as long as he had a roof over his head. Not a lot of people had houses anymore here in Destiny Islands, so he was thankful he had one at least.

Ever since Xehanort took over the worlds, Destiny Islands had suffered just as much as the other worlds did. The once happy, bright, and peaceful world was now full of refugees from other worlds, most noticeably from Hollow Bastion. He was honestly shocked that many people made it out of that world, since it was where Xehanort lived after all. Roxas only figured that most of these people sold everything they owned to get a passport to get here. He had met a few people who managed to get here illegally, but most of them claimed that some of their group never made it to the island.

It really was a dumb law; probably the one Roxas hated the most. If people want to leave the world, let them leave, don't force them to pay a 10,000 munny passport to leave. Some people managed to escape illegally by sneaking onto the Gummi Ship, claiming they were servants for others on the ship, or even _beating _people to give them their passport. Roxas couldn't blame them honestly; he would have done anything to get off of Hollow Bastion.

The whole thought of Xehanort just made Roxas really mad inside. Did Xehanort really even care that these many people where suffering because he was a horrible ruler? Basically the only ones that weren't suffering had just enough money to get them along or were supporters of Xehanort, and there were not very many of either. Between Xehanort's stupid laws and people just not having enough money, people where dying or being thrown in prison every day. And it still shocked Roxas that people were wondering why the population is dwindling down so much…

Biting his lip, Roxas walked over to his bookshelf, which only had several books on it, but he pulled out the thickest one. The day Xehanort took over Hollow Bastion, he broadcasted himself, announcing all the new laws he and his Seekers of Darkness had made. And, to be sure no one forgot any of them, he sent out thousands of copies of this book, containing all the laws, just to remind everyone. It was a sick thought that the old man had that much power, and Roxas was shocked that he hadn't burned the book with a fire attack yet, but he figured he would just look them over since he had nothing else better to do.

Once Roxas sat back down on his couch, he flipped the book open, reading all the laws in his head. _No leaving a world without a passport_ was the first one he saw, but he was already so angry about that law that he skipped over it. _No entering the Castle of Hollow Bastion_ was slightly obvious, if Xehanort lived there, of course he wouldn't want anyone else in there. Obviously the person that broke in there today didn't care about that rule though. _No hiding criminals wanted by the Solders_… yeah right, like people are actually going to listen to that one.

Roxas continued to skim over the other laws until his eyes caught sight of one specific law. This particular law was the one Xehanort demanded the most out of 'his' people, and so it was Roxas's most hated law, even more so than the passport one. Just looking at it made his blood begin to boil, and it wasn't really that questionable.

_Never__ speak of the Guardians of Light (deceased)._

Roxas stared at that law for a long time as memories began to flash in his mind. He hardly remembered the day they lost, but he remembered certain things. For example, he remembered a grey and black keyblade coming down on Sora's chest—both their chests at the time, and then he found himself here. And the one that looked like him (something like Ven was his name) he remembered seeing that death. That was the only death he remembered clearly, but he also remembered seeing Kairi, lying down on the barren ground, her stomach not moving at all.

Those deaths really didn't affect him though. He had met Sora and Kairi a few times, but they were both so brief that he never really formed a connection with them, even if Sora was his somebody. The one that looked like him was also in Sora's heart for a long time, but he never got to meet him. Riku… It was best not to talk about him. The mouse and the blue haired girl he had never met, so that never affected him.

But Axel…

Roxas clenched his fists at the thought of Xehanort ending him. Axel, or his somebody's name, Lea, was his _only_ friend. Roxas wished he could have seen him when he came back as Lea, he probably would have showed off his keyblade like it was some trophy, and then say something like _"Knew you would come back, got it memorized?"_

But Axel was no longer alive, he could never say those words, or anything to Roxas ever again.

Deep down, Roxas wished that he had never gained the ability to use the keyblade, since if that didn't happen, he could still be alive. Some people called the keyblade a gift, a weapon that other would die for. But to Roxas, it was nothing more than a curse, and since he _used to_ duel wield, he was burdened with twice the curse.

Placing the book down on the table, Roxas brought his hand out, and almost instantly the white light flashed and Kingdom Key had appeared in his hand. Even though he was glad he had lost his ability to duel wield, since it kept Xehanort away from him, he was still curious to know why he could no longer summon Oathkeeper and Oblivion. The two blades were like yin and yang, but together, Roxas could use them to take down any heartless, or nobody in some cases, without a second thought. So Roxas was puzzled as to why he could only summon Kingdom Key, not Oathkeeper or Oblivion by itself, _only_ Kingdom Key.

The nobody was not sure exactly how long he stared at Kingdom Key, but he ceased doing so when he heard a knocking at his door. Roxas quickly unsummoned his keyblade in surprise, he _never_ got any visitors, not even refugees that were looking for shelter, money, or food, they always tired elsewhere since many of them knew he was Sora's nobody. Sometimes, Roxas wished he could tell them Xehanort wanted nothing to do with him, but he decided not to bother since he liked being alone anyways. Maybe it was some new refugee that didn't know he lived here?

Having his curiosity get the best of him, Roxas rose from his seat and headed for the door. Right as he put his hand on the doorknob, he stopped and looked down at himself to be sure that he looked at least somewhat presentable, since he did not want to scare anyone off. His old Twilight Town wear was still on him, clean from just being washed earlier this morning, so he was fine. Knowing this, Roxas opened the door, letting the fresh air rush into his house.

The nobody was not expecting to see a beautiful young woman who couldn't be more than thirty years old. Her long brown hair that was tied back in a braid blew in the wind along with the light pink bow that tied it all together. She wore a white dress with blue designs that traveled all over it that also had two blue bows on it, one by her waistline, the other right between her breasts. She smiled at the sight of Roxas, her teeth being so white that you could spot them at night. She also had a large, brown bag that hung over her shoulder that looked like it was packed with something.

"Hello Roxas." She said smiling, her green eyes staring right into the nobody's blue ones.

"Um…" Roxas did not know what to say. How did this girl know his name anyway? "Hi."

"It's a pleasure to meet you." She held her hand out to the nobody. "I'm Aerith."

The name Aerith suddenly made the realization in Roxas's mind. How did he not recognize her sooner? He remembered seeing her in Sora's memories; she was the young woman from Hollow Bastion, a member of the Restoration Committee before it was shut down by Xehanort. Roxas was still shocked that the old man didn't kill them all since they were friends with Sora, but I guess taking away the committee was good enough for him.

At first, Roxas only stared at her extended hand, but then, after a few short moments, he took it in his, shaking it lightly. He tried to form a closed smile when he shook it, but he couldn't find the reason to do so. "Nice to meet you too…" He said awkwardly.

When their hands parted, Aerith looked behind her for a second, as if she was afraid someone was watching them, before she turned back to Roxas. "Do you mind if I come in?" She asked.

Roxas arched an eyebrow at this statement. Why would she want to come in to his house? Did she want to talk to him? Does she want refuge? _Did she want to kill him_? No, she was to innocent to do something like that. But what did she want?

Only one way to find out.

Roxas nodded. "Come in," he said bluntly, opening the door wide enough so she could enter. She smiled before walking into the house, and once she was out of the doorframe, Roxas closed the door behind him. She looked around the house curiously, her eyes searching every corner of the room. The nobody was thankful that he decided to clean the house yesterday, if he didn't, she probably wouldn't want to come in here.

When she entered, Roxas expected her to begin talking immediately, but she was silent and only continued to look around the house. That was all she did for several moments before she made a move, which was to place her bag on the couch. But after that, she didn't move again and continued to stare at the house.

Wanting to know what she came here for, Roxas decided to take matters into his own hands. "So are you here to talk to me about something?" He asked her, talking several small steps in her direction as he did so.

"Oh, yes, sorry about that." She finally spoke. She then turned to look at the nobody, making sure that their eyes made contact before they exchanged words. "I needed to talk to you about something."

"Is this about Sora?" Roxas almost regretted mentioning his name, fearing that she would gasp and immediately call the soldiers to arrest him for talking about the Guardians. But she didn't do anything like that; instead she showed her teeth again, a sad smile.

"So you know who I am then," she said.

Roxas nodded. "Aerith, right?"

"Correct, and you are Roxas, right?" Roxas nodded before she continued. "Good I knew you would remember me from Sora's memories. Oh and to answer your first question no… well yes… Ah I really don't know how to put it; I just know I have to tell you before _they _get here."

"Until _who_ gets here?" Roxas questioned.

"Look," she continued, ignoring his question, "I know this might sound crazy, but you just have to listen alright? Please don't question anything, I've already wasted enough time, we can't waste anymore."

Her complete tone changed in these few sentences. In a few short moments, Aerith went from being a happy, quiet young woman to becoming a nervous, fearful one. This very move scared Roxas.

"Wait, are you trying to say that you are bringing _other people_ here?" Roxas tried not to sound angry, but it came out that way.

"I am not bringing other people here, they are coming themselves." Aerith continued.

Roxas's eyes widened at the statement. "Why are people coming here?"

Aerith looked away for a moment, as if afraid to say something, which Roxas took note of right away.

"I don't have time for this." Roxas said, "You can just leave, I am pretty sure I can deal with these people when they get here."

Roxas then turned away from Aerith, walking towards the door he was about to open to guide Aerith out. But her voice stopped him, and the words that she said stopped him in his tracks.

"You're a Guardian of Light, Roxas."

Aerith's sentence was short, but it had so much meaning that it felt like Roxas was punched right in the chest. Was she speaking the truth? No, how could she be? How could she even know?

"That's impossible," he protested. "All the Guardians of Light are dead; Xehanort killed them two years ago."

"Your right, but Kingdom Hearts has chosen new Guardians of Light, ones to replace the ones lost two years ago. They are not all dead; you are standing right in front of me." She said her words strongly.

Roxas rolled his eyes, how could she think this? Xehanort would never make any announcements if new Guardians were chosen, so how would she know if Kingdom Hearts chose new ones?

But then Roxas remembered the news broadcast, how they were saying someone broke into Xehanort's castle earlier this morning. He did think that the person must have got information about Xehanort if the intruder left in such a hurry, without a trace left behind. Was that intruder connected to Aerith? Did whoever this was actually hear Xehanort say that new Guardians were chosen? _Was he one of them_?

No, he couldn't be. Guardians of Light had to have light in their hearts, and last time he checked, nobodies didn't have hearts.

"Okay, maybe you're right, maybe Kingdom Hearts did choose new Guardians of Light, but I am not one of them. I am the nobody of a former Guardian yes, but I'm not a Guardian myself. You need a heart to be a Guardian, and nobodies don't have hearts." Roxas explained.

Aerith placed her hands behind her back. "Are you so sure?"

"Positive," Roxas replied.

"Have you even bothered to check?" She continued to ask.

"No." He responded bluntly.

"Why not?" She pushed him.

"Because nobodies don't have hearts," he repeated, beginning to get frustrated again. "We are just the empty shell of people that used to have one."

"I don't believe that, most nobodies don't have hearts, but you're different, I know you have one." She was really getting on his nerves now. "You just are too _afraid_ to check."

"For heaven's sake Aerith!" Roxas breathed out a frustrated sigh. Did he really have to do this to get her to shut up? Apparently, so the nobody lifted his shirt up with his hand to slide his other hand underneath it, to feel for the heart that was not there. "Is this really what I need to do to get you to—"

A sudden beating under his hand prevented Roxas from speaking. He gaped before he allowed his eyes to widen, unable to move besides that. What was he feeling? He didn't have a heart, and for a moment he thought he was crazy, but the continuous beating in his chest proved him otherwise. He had a heart. _He had a heart_.

Not knowing what to do, Roxas looked to Aerith, figuring that she had all the answers. But she didn't give him an answer first; instead she said something, something that slapped Roxas across the face with reality.

"Welcome to the Guardians." She told him.

Roxas stared at Aerith, not knowing how to respond to that. After several moments passed by, Roxas finally removed his hand from his chest, but he could have sworn he still felt his heart beating. "How…" Roxas couldn't speak.

"Do you have a heart?" Aerith finished his sentence for him. "We don't know yet, we are still trying to figure that out. We figure that it has something to do with your 'Organization leader' though, he probably kept you twelve more in the dark then you thought."

"That intruder," Roxas could finally find his words again. "You know him don't you? He was the one that told you this."

Aerith nodded. "He is one of my best friends, he wouldn't lie about this, none of us would, we have been looking for a way to take down Xehanort for a long time. We almost gave up hope just like everyone else did, but Ansem the Wise changed that."

"Ansem the Wise?" Roxas questioned. "Xehanort arrested him and his workers when they refused to leave the castle at Hollow Bastion. How did he give you hope?"

"We knew Ansem, we thought he was dead for a long time, but he was really just in the Realm of Darkness. The Guardians of Light helped free him, and helped him gain the memories that he lost back. He continued ruling Hollow Bastion in peace after that, but he left us, the Restoration Committee, behind his journals, things filled with theories and notes just in case something were to happen to him again. One of those journals said this one theory, one that said if the Guardians of Light did lose against Xehanort; it wouldn't be long before Kingdom Hearts choose new ones to replace them. We didn't pay much attention to it then, but after the Guardians lost, we were hoping that one theory would be true, and began to prepare for it, in case it was correct. His theory proved to be true, and here we are."

This was too much for Roxas to take in. "I don't believe this…" Was all he could say.

"You are the only Guardian Xehanort knows about, and he is coming here to _end_ you before you can even try to stop him." Aerith said.

"Who said I was even going to try and stop him? You really think that these new Guardians and I can end Xehanort? He already killed the first seven, he can do it again." Roxas protested.

"Roxas, you don't understand, _you are our last hope_." Aerith said in a serious tone. "The Restoration Committee, Xehanort thought he shut us down two years ago but all we have done is grown larger, we can finally stop him if you join us."

Roxas looked at her dumbfounded. "I—I can't—"

Before Roxas could finish his sentence, Aerith silenced him and placed her hand on her ear. Roxas figured she must have had an ear bud in and someone was communicating with her. "They're here," Aerith nervously said. "You can decide whether or not you want to join us later, we need to get you out of here if you even want to make that choice."

Acting quickly, Aerith ran over to the bag she placed on the couch and unzipped it. From the bag, the young woman pulled out two long, black robes that could hide anyone. Roxas knew them better than anyone, they were Organization XIII coats.

"Quick, put this on." Aerith commanded, throwing the coat to Roxas as she began to slip hers on. Roxas did not move for a moment, but he soon knew that if he did nothing, he and Aerith would be killed at the hands of Xehanort, and that was the last thing he wanted to do. So he quickly put the coat on, zippering it up and putting the hood up in a few seconds. It was a perfect fit, Aerith must have thought ahead of the situation.

Once Aerith had finished putting her coat on, she looked to Roxas. "We need to get to the beach fast, my Gummi Ship is there, we can get off the island before they could catch up to us with Cid driving."

Cid, Roxas remembered him from Sora's memories too. He was a member of the Restoration Committee as well, but he specialized in ships of any kind, Gummi Ships especially. If anyone could get them off the island to escape Xehanort, he could.

But before they could even try to leave, there was a loud knocking at the door which made the two freeze. Roxas heard Aerith curse as the knocking continued, and a stern voice spoke on the other side of the door. "Open up in the name of Xehanort." It said. Roxas nearly cursed as well since he knew that voice, it was Saix.

Aerith put her hood up at the sound of the voice and slowly walked over to her bag, trying not to make a sound. When she arrived there, she pulled out something else from her bag, a short pole that, with a flick of her wrist, expanded into a pole that was almost taller than her. She wasn't really expecting to fight them off, was she? Saix was no pushover; there was no way she could survive.

It was then when Roxas received the sudden idea. Before Aerith could walk any further, Roxas grabbed a hold of her wrist, stopping her in her tracks. Roxas then pressed his finger to his lips, silencing her, before he silently summoned his keyblade. It was a stroke of luck that he did it at that time, but right as Saix announced he was going to break into the house; Roxas fired a blast of blizzard right at the door, freezing the entire door. Saix yelled in frustration through the door as he tried to open it, but the blizzard froze the door completely, it was not going to open anytime soon.

Roxas then began to run towards the small, back door that he normally did not use. If his theory was correct, and Xehanort did want to keep his death as quiet as possible so no one would suspect anything, they would only be at the front door. Surrounding the house would be too obvious that something wasn't going on. Thankfully, when he opened the back door, no one was there, and that is when they began to escape.

At first, the two, as quietly as they could, began to run away from the house. It was late morning, but thankfully it was cloudy out, so it would be harder to spot them running from the house. However, as they ran, Roxas could have sworn he smelled smoke, and he feared that that meant they saw them and where firing some fire attack at them. He kept running, but he turned his head to look behind him, and if Aerith wasn't holding onto him, he would have stopped.

His house was engulfed in flames, they weren't using fire at them, they were using it at his house, hoping to kill him that way. Roxas knew it was not possible for fire to spread that quickly, so he figured that whoever was with Saix must have known how to must magic well, and was continuously shooting fire attacks at his house. The sight saddened Roxas slightly, but if it meant it could give him the chance to escape, he would take it.

Roxas was just thankful he did not live far away from the beach, where Aerith had said the Gummi Ship was. Only thing was when he looked at the beach, there was nothing there. "Cid, we're here, stop the invisibility cloak." Aerith said, proving that Roxas was correct that she did have an ear bud in and was talking with someone, that person being Cid.

Roxas didn't even think invisibility was possible until he saw the Gummi Ship appear right before his eyes, its bright red and black design being hard to miss. At this point, Roxas thought he was home free, that they were going to make it out of here with no problems, but then he heard gun shots behind him. They were firing at them, that's for sure, but nothing was hitting them yet, so they must have been far behind and were just hoping for a lucky shot.

Right when they arrived at the bottom of the Gummi Ship, the hatch opened, allowing them to enter. As soon as they were inside, the hatch closed behind them, and they could hear the sound of bullets hitting the ship from the outside.

"Cid just drive! Cue the invisibility again, they are right on our tail!" Aerith yelled.

"_Got it kiddo!"_ A voice said over the intercom of the ship. Soon afterwards, Roxas felt the ground beneath him shake, and he knew that they had begun taking off. Just to be safe, Roxas decided to go to the nearest window of the ship to look outside, to make sure they did not see them, but did he regret it.

They did not see them anymore, but fire that took his house spread, and the area he lived in was engulfed in flames.

* * *

_**"I know how it feels when you have to start again,**_

_**now there's no one to save me.**_

_**I know how it feels when the world is ganna end,**_

_**but they'll see..."**_

**~Comeback by Redlight King**

* * *

**Wow, thanks for all the support so far! I really wasn't expecting it, so thanks so much! Hope this chapter made you guys want to read more!**

**So yeah, the plot is beginning to thicken, and we have some questions answered. The next chapter should answer more questions, like how the Restoration Committee managed to hide their existence for two years and some more stuff. Hope you are looking forward to it!**

**By the way, if Roxas seems somewhat OOC in this chapter, I meant to do that. You see, after what happened with Xehanort and stuff, Roxas hasn't been the same, so he is supposed to act like this.**

**Oh, and so I have decided I am going to put new Final Fantasy characters in this story, but since I am horrible at making decisions, I need you guys to tell me which ones you want to see. Just say them in your reviews!**

**Also, I am not going to have that many Disney worlds in this story, but if you want, tell me which ones you want to see too!**

**So please R&R and look out for the next chapter!**


	3. The Restoration Committee

Roxas stayed quiet for the remainder of the Gummi Ship ride.

After they managed to escape Xehanort's soldiers on Destiny Islands, Aerith had brought him over to a sitting area not too far away from where Cid was piloting. She was helpful enough to introduce Roxas and Cid, but since the old man was piloting, he really wasn't paying much attention to the introduction. The keyblader and Aerith then took off the Organization coats, and Roxas just found the closest seat and sat down staring at the ground, not knowing what to do.

Destiny Islands was burnt to a crisp because of him. His house, the houses around it, the few trees that managed to survive even after all the chaos Xehanort caused, they were all taken by the fire. Those houses near him where the homes of several refugees who just managed to save enough money to buy the property, they were innocent. They bought a house to try and survive and what does Saix do? Cause a fire that spread before anyone could stop anything.

He just felt so guilty, not just about the fire, but about everything. He believed Aerith now, _he was a guardian_. If he had known he was a guardian earlier, could all those houses have been spared? If he knew he was a guardian earlier, could the worlds not be in the suffering state they were in now? The dozens of questions gave him a slight migraine, and he wished his mind would stop replaying them like a broken record player in his head.

Why him? Why did he have to be burdened with this? He already looked at the keyblade as a curse, being a Guardian would serve as an even bigger one. Did Aerith really expect him to save them from their suffering? How did she expect him to defeat Xehanort? Even with the other Guardians at his side (if they even found the others) he had the X-Blade. Maybe, _just maybe_, if Roxas could use Oathkeeper and Oblivion, they could stand a chance. But the problem was he couldn't, and he predicted that it would lead them to their downfall.

Roxas was about to go over more possibilities in his head but someone sat down next to him, making the keyblader look up. He wasn't surprised to see it was Aerith, who was trying to smile once they made eye contact but it was never found on her lips. "I'm sorry about your house." She said with guilt in her voice.

Roxas looked away from her and looked at the ground, unable to look into her green eyes as long as they were filled with guilt. "It's not my house I am upset about, it's the fire that spread and took everything else with it." He folded his hands on his lap. "Those where just innocent refugees houses, who were lucky enough to raise money to buy their own house. That fire took all their hard work away from them."

The former nobody could tell that Aerith felt guilty about everything, and that she probably took full responsibility for the fire. In the short time he knew Aerith; he knew that she was one to feel guilty for everything, even if it was not her fault. But he did not want her to think like that. Saix and his soldiers were the reason the town was burnt to a crisp, not her. She even said that she needed to get him out of there right away; she wanted to leave as soon as possible so something like that wouldn't happen. If anyone where to take the blame and feel guilty for this, it should have been Roxas since he kept asking questions when Aerith was trying to get him out of there.

And he sure did feel guilty.

Aerith looked away from Roxas for a moment, which caught his attention. He looked to see Aerith, with a pensive look on her face, staring at the ground before she looked back up at him. "You know, maybe if you joined us in fighting against Xehanort, we could help those refugees out." She said with a slight smile on her face.

_Did she seriously just guilt trap him?_ No, there was still guilt in her eyes, but it sure seemed like that is what she was attempting to do.

Roxas huffed out a laugh hidden under his breath. "You really want me to join you don't you?" Two could play at this game. Roxas waited for Aerith to nod before he replied. "Well the answer is still no."

Aerith arched an eyebrow. "Suit yourself," she replied. "But whether you like it or not, you are going to have to stay at the Restoration Committee's headquarters until we get Xehanort off your back, so you might as well join."

"I am not joining until I feel like I need to." Roxas replied. Aerith gave him a blank expression before she got up, her hands behind her back.

She only walked a few inches away from Roxas before she continued to speak. "You don't feel like you need to join us now? What about all those people that are suffering? They need to be avenged." She continued to play this game with him, pushing him to join them in their fight, but he was not budging anytime soon.

Roxas did not argue with her at first, since she did make a valid point. But the thing was Roxas hadn't really witnessed what Xehanort is capable of first hand. Yes, he was the reason Sora and the others were dead and he was _in_ Sora at the time, but it was so blurry that Roxas didn't even get to see who it was that killed him; all he saw was a grey and black keyblade. People were suffering, yes, but Xehanort hadn't done anything that affected him horribly yet. Was Axel's murder close? Yes, but it still wasn't enough.

"Until Xehanort gives _me_ a good reason to avenge them, I am not going to go and fight him." He replied to her, sitting back further in his seat as he said so. Aerith looked back slightly when he said this, and Roxas noticed in her face that she was not going to continue fighting back anymore.

It was only a few seconds later when the two felt the Gummi Ship go forward slightly. Immediately, Roxas shot up, not knowing what that could have been, but Cid's voice stopped him. "Lady and Gent, I am happy to announce that we have arrived at are destination." He said, making his appearance known when he stepped out of the pilot area, walking towards the exit.

Not believing him for a moment, Roxas looked out the window. It was weird, it was so dark outside that he didn't even notice they had exited space; they have been flying for several hours.

"We better leave quickly; Xehanort's soldiers should be switching shifts right now, so no one will be on the streets for a few minutes." Aerith said as she grabbed her Organization coat and opened the hatch, followed closely by Cid, who had his own coat. Roxas, knowing that they were playing it better safe than sorry, also grabbed his coat and put it on.

The three then stepped out into the darkness of the night, with only the several stars and dim lights of the town to guide them. Roxas noticed that they had landed in the area outside of the town, which was now a barren wasteland. He saw several other Gummi Ships (under Xehanort's command) lined up in the distance, but there were no lights, giving the indication that no one was there. That is when he made the realization. "Hey, aren't we supposed to hide this? I mean, won't Saix and his soldiers recognize—"

Before Roxas could continue, the Gummi Ship that he had flown in a mere few moments ago vanished before his eyes. This took him heavily by surprise, and he turned to Aerith and Cid for answers. "Invisibility gummi, one of my personal favorites, too bad it's one of the rare ones." Cid said, throwing his hood up with Aerith doing the same. "Now come on, if we want to get to the house without being seen we better skedaddle."

Not wanting something like that to happen, Roxas quickly threw up his hood and followed the others. It did not take long for them to arrive in the town, which, to Roxas, did not look much different from the barren wasteland they were just in. Many of the houses and shops were boarded up and falling apart, with only a handful of ones still open, but even those weren't in the best of conditions. As they walked through the streets, Roxas looked down several of the allies, which had at the most two dozen people either trying to sleep, cuddling together by a fire in a trash can, or digging through the trash bins of places that were still open.

It made Roxas sad really. He thought Destiny Islands was bad, but it was not as bad as this. The refugees on Destiny Islands had just enough money to get out of this world, but these people weren't as lucky. They were in poverty, having no money to get out of here or to even survive.

Not being able to look at the saddened people any longer, Roxas only continued to trail behind Aerith and Cid, who had just arrived at their house. Roxas remembered this house from Sora's memories; it belonged to the wizard, Merlin. However, Roxas could tell that he no longer lived here due to the lack of magic in the air, though he wondered where he was, or even if he was still alive.

Cid was the one to open the door, allowing Aerith to enter inside first. Roxas was about to wait for Cid to go inside next, but the old man motioned for him to go inside quickly, so he did not argue. Cid trailed closely behind Roxas, shutting and locking the door behind him.

Despite most of the world having a dark, empty feeling to it, this house was the one and only place that made Roxas feel welcome in this town. It looked practically the same from what he remembered from Sora's memories, but instead of there being a computer right when you walked in, there was a brick fireplace. Normally, Roxas would feel welcomed by its heat and feeling of home, but after the events that just took place on Destiny Islands, it felt like the exact opposite.

"All righty then," Roxas heard Cid say. "Looks like we're safe, no reason to wear the coats anymore."

Just to be sure Cid was not lying; Roxas looked to Aerith, who began taking off her coat to reveal her blue and white dress underneath. The former nobody then quickly slipped out of his coat and held it in his hand.

"Wait a second, _this_ is your headquarters?" Roxas asked the two.

Cid was the first to speak up, who had also gotten out of his coat to reveal his clothing underneath, which was the same from Sora's memories. "Yeah, what's the problem with it kid?" He asked.

"I… Nothing." To be honest, Cid kind of scared Roxas, which caused him to have trouble finding words. "I just… thought there would be more."

"Come on! You really think we can have a huge headquarters with Xehanort's soldiers patrolling the town twenty-four-seven?" The old man asked the keyblader.

Roxas stuffed his hands in his pockets. "I don't know." He replied bluntly.

"You want to know a lesson I learned when I was young Roxas?" Aerith asked him, whom he gave her his full attention to. "Things aren't always as they seem at first glance."

"What does that have to do with—"

Roxas stopped himself when he saw Aerith walk towards the left side of the fireplace. He knew she was up to something, but he admitted that he did not expect Aerith to go to one brick that was sticking out more than the others and push it, which caused a light rumbling in the house. Then, right before his eyes, Roxas saw the fire that was once in the fireplace vanish and the whole fireplace split in two, opening up a secret staircase that traveled downward on the other side. Aerith motioned for Roxas to go first, which he carefully did, and he began to walk down the stairs. At the end of the staircase, there was a huge door, which had a lock on it with several buttons with numbers on it. Cid was the one to step forward and type in the code, which Roxas noticed was _32702_.

When the door opened, Roxas found himself shocked and surprised. On the other side of the door, there was a huge, _huge_ room made of strong, metal walls and flooring. In this room, there were several dozens of computer monitors, each with a person Roxas did not recognize in a black uniform working and typing on it. On the farthest side of the room, there was a huge television monitor, which currently was off, but the size of it is what caught Roxas's attention. But one of the things that really shocked Roxas was that there were _more doors_, which meant to him there were more rooms, which he predicted where for a number of reasons: healing room, interrogation room, bedrooms for the people that lived here, and several other possibilities.

"Woah," was all he could say, since he was in too much of a state of awe to say anything else. He heard Cid snort behind him at his comment, while Aerith remained silent, but the keyblader could only imagine how much she was grinning right now.

"Aerith! Cid!" Roxas heard towards his left. When he turned to the sound of the noise, he saw a young girl, who couldn't be more than twenty running towards the three. Her short, black hair bounced as she ran, and she was wearing the same thing mostly everyone else was wearing here: a black body suit with long sleeves. Roxas knew for sure at that moment that it was the uniform, but hers was different from the others. The other people working here did not have the strange crown shaped symbol on the shoulder area.

Roxas recognized her shortly after he noticed this. Her name was Yuffie, one of the other members of the Restoration Committee.

Yuffie held her arms out when she got closer to the three, expecting a hug of some kind. Aerith was the one to walk forward and hug Yuffie for a short amount of time. "I was so worried!" The two ceased hugging as she continued. "I thought Xehanort might have gotten there first, or worse!"

"We're fine; you had no reason to worry." Aerith replied. Roxas wished he could smile, since Aerith clearly was the 'big sister figure' to Yuffie, and he thought it was sweet, but smiling was something that did not come easily to him.

"But still! You have to warn me next…" Yuffie trailed off because she looked over Aerith's shoulder, making eye contact with Roxas. At first, he thought that Yuffie would just stand there; awestruck that he was actually standing right in front of her, but what she did was the exact opposite. "Oh my gosh!" She ran over to Roxas, wrapping her arms around his neck in a strangling hug, cutting off his air. "It's you, it's you, it's you, I knew you would come! I knew you would join us in our fight!"

Roxas wanted to speak up, but he had no breath to do so. Thankfully, Cid noticed this and pulled her off Roxas. "Chillax, do you want to kill him?" He said in a passive tone.

"Right, I'm so sorry!" She apologized eagerly. "I was just so excited and when I get excited, I just go bananas, you know what I mean?"

Yuffie's personality was something Roxas had not seen in a long time. No one was really the same since Xehanort took over, but she was surprising since most of her peppy personality still was with her.

"I see you succeeded with your mission, Aerith." A deep voice said coming from the direction Yuffie just came from. Roxas looked up to see a tall man walking towards them with his hands behind his back. He had medium length hair with bangs that looked like they were styled to hide the scar that ran across his face, but they were not doing a very good job at hiding it. He wore the same uniform Yuffie did but styled for a male that was sleeveless with a black vest over it and he had a necklace with a lion on it hanging from his neck. Roxas knew who he was the moment he saw the scar, Leon, the leader of the Restoration Committee.

When he approached them, Aerith giggled. "Well, did you expect anything less from me Squall?" She joked.

Leon/Squall (or whatever his name was) grinned the slightest when she said this. "I admit I didn't, excellent work." He replied.

"Ah yah know, I drove her there and back." Cid interrupted, trying to gain the praise that Aerith had just received. Leon glared at Cid as if he was silently saying _really?_ Cid stared back at him with a glare, but he knew it was no use. "Never mind, I'm just going to get back to my computer."

When Cid left the group, Roxas's eyes followed him, and he saw the old man take a seat at the biggest computer near the furthest wall.

"It is an honor to meet you Roxas." Leon said in his emotionless voice. "I am glad you decided to join us here."

Roxas did not know how to react to that since he was unsure if Leon meant just come here to Hollow Bastion, or if he meant that he actually _joined_ the Restoration Committee, which he didn't. However, Aerith answered the question for him. "He is unsure whether or not he wants to join the Restoration Committee yet." She spoke up.

"WHAT?!" Yuffie hollered loudly, which caused everyone in the room to turn to her direction. "What do you mean you didn't join us? What's not to love about this group?"

The keyblader noticed Leon glare at Yuffie, and Roxas knew that Leon was hoping Yuffie would look at him and it would get her to shut up. But Yuffie didn't look to him and only continued rambling to Roxas, which Aerith then took charge of. "Yuffie, why don't you go see where Stitch went to?"

Yuffie's mood changed in the blink of an eye. "Great idea!" She leaped for joy before she jumped off. Once she was gone, Roxas laughed to himself, finding it hilarious at just how short Yuffie's attention span was.

Once she was gone, Leon turned to Aerith. "Why don't you go change into your uniform? I would like to speak alone with him." He said, acting as if Roxas was not even there.

Aerith laughed. "Of course, I needed to get out of this thing anyway; I haven't worn it in forever and forgot how much I hated it." She joked.

Leon grinned as Aerith walked away. Roxas could not understand why or how, but there was some kind of relationship going on between the two, whether they were just flirting with one another or if they were actually a couple, there was something going on.

"So is it true that you did not yet decide if you are going to join us?" Leon asked, snapping Roxas back into reality. The keyblader didn't know it yet, but he was more afraid of Leon then he was of Cid.

"Well… Yeah." Roxas was still having trouble finding his words, but he managed to find enough to speak to Leon. "It's just I want to have a good reason to join you guys. Not to say that Xehanort ruining the worlds was a good reason, but until he does something that gives me a _personal really good reason_, I am not joining."

At first, Roxas thought Leon was going to punch him in the face as hard as he could for not joining them, but nothing came. Leon only stood there, staring at Roxas with his dangerous blue eyes. "While I disagree with your reasoning, I am not going to argue with your decision." Leon said emotionlessly. "Hopefully, you will change your mind."

"Change my mind?" Roxas asked. "You guys are secretly trying to find the new Guardians of Light in an attempt to overthrow Xehanort, a plan like that will get all of you killed." He paused, making sure that Leon was not going to tackle him for saying that, and then continued. "All it takes is one slip up, and Xehanort finds you, and he _will_ kill all of you for doing this."

Leon's slight death glare sent the slightest shiver down Roxas's spine. "The worlds have been in chaos ever since Xehanort won the battle against the lights; we want that to change. By gathering new Guardians, we might actually have a _chance_ of freeing the worlds from this torment. Yes, we are risking our lives doing this, but if we succeed, we _can_ defeat Xehanort. A lot of people would think of that as the worlds' best chance."

Roxas snorted. "I'm thinking you guys are insane if you want to know what I'm thinking."

The words slipped out of Roxas's mouth so quick that he didn't even have time to think about if it was the right thing to say or not. The glare Leon sent Roxas made the keyblade believe that he was going to throw his head through the ceiling. But Leon did something that Roxas was not expecting; he held his hand out to the keyblader, willing to shake it. Roxas was cautious at first, but he eventually took Leon's hand in his and shook it.

"You have fire, that's something we need if we want to have a chance of defeating Xehanort." He said simply.

To Roxas, this man was about as confusing as Demyx was. "I _never_ said I would help you defeat Xehanort." He retorted, beginning to get aggravated.

"Yes, but whether you like it or not, you have to stay here if you want to live. Hopefully, your time here will change that opinion." Leon continued.

Roxas clenched his fists together. He wished he could summon Oathkeeper and Oblivion so he could duel wield the heck out of him, but before he could even attempt to summon both blades (again) a voice behind him stopped them. "Looks like you two got acquainted." Aerith said.

The keyblader turned to face Aerith, since she was really the only one she could stand in this place, and her sight would calm him. She no longer wore the blue and white dress, but instead a black body suit similar to Yuffie's with long sleeves. Like Yuffie, she had high black boots built for combat and fingerless gloves. The only obvious difference from Yuffie, or anyone else's uniform for that matter, was that she wore a bright, red scarf around her neck that matched her bow in her braid. She wore it proudly, loped twice around her neck with the two ends still long enough to dangle pass her breasts.

"I suppose you can say that." Leon said sarcastically. Roxas hid his face full of rage the best he could when he said that. "But it does not matter, it is late, perhaps now would be a good time to show him to his room."

"Of course," Aerith said smiling as she took her hand and motioned Roxas to follow her, which he did immediately. As long as it meant staying away from Leon, he was perfectly fine with it.

Following Aerith, the young woman took him to one of the closest doors from where they were just standing that lead them into a long hallway. The hallway had multiple doors on each side with numbers on them, which Roxas figured were other rooms. Besides that though, there was nothing else to this area, it was just in the same style as the rest of this underground base.

Since the hallway was ridiculously long, Roxas figured that it would be more bearable if he stared a conversation with Aerith. At first, he did not know what to say to her, and the idea of the uniforms came to his mind for some reason. "So what, you guys have to look nice in a uniform to 'defeat' Xehanort?" He asked

Aerith smiled at his comment. "No, we are required to wear the uniform since, if for whatever reason, we need to go out on an emergency mission, these are easy to move around in and will help us blend in with the shadows along with the Organization coat."

"Yeah, you're going to be hiding well in the shadows with that bright red scarf around your neck." He said.

Aerith squinted her eyes at the former nobody. "I know, it is kind of obvious, but it can stay hidden under the Organization coat." She paused. "Besides, I really can't find myself ever taking this off, it was a gift from Leon, so I have to wear it to show him that I really love it. It's kind of symbolic in a way."

"Wow, the guy actually has a soft side? That's the plot twist of the night." Roxas rolled his eyes. "What, are you two like… _in a relationship_ with him?"

Roxas was half hoping that Aerith would say no, but he knew it wasn't going to come. The way they acted around each other, it was weird, but you could tell there was something going on between them. The thing was though that Roxas just couldn't see sweet and sincere Aerith and grumpy Leon together.

"I guess you can say that." She said, which made Roxas sick to his stomach. "You see, I was in a relationship before, but he…" She stopped dead in her tracks, which made Roxas stop as well. He immediately regretted asking Aerith about relationships since she seemed to be getting so choked up over this.

"Sorry, you don't need to explain." Roxas said, hoping that he didn't just ruin only the slight friendship he made here so far.

Aerith wiped her eyes from the tear that was forming in them. "No, I'm fine really." She said, seeming to go back into her bubbly self. The two resumed walking. "As I was saying, he… is no longer with us. For a long time, I didn't want to talk to anyone and I never wanted to form a relationship with anyone else ever again in fear that they would be taken away from me like he was. But Leon taught me how to love again."

Roxas did not know how to respond to that but thankfully he didn't have to since Aerith stopped. "Here's your room." She said, pointing to the marked door with the Roman numeral number XIII on it. How ironic.

Roxas stepped forward and opened the door, with Aerith trailing directly behind him. The room was small, having enough room for a king-sized bed and some walking space, but besides that, nothing else. The walls and floor had the same metallic look to it as the rest of the underground base did. It only had one light in the room, which made it seem very dark, but Roxas noticed that there was another light on the furthest wall from him that was not on. He figured that it was for emergencies and would cause a siren.

"I managed to get you a bigger room then the others." She explained. _This was one of the bigger rooms?_ "I also made sure to hang up some clothes in the closet for you."

Roxas didn't even notice there was a closet until she mentioned it. Wanting to know what clothing was in them, he walked over to the closet, opening it to reveal the clothing inside. The sight made him look at it emotionlessly: it was the uniform that the males wore here, just like the one Leon wore.

The keyblader turned to Aerith, giving her a look that said _really?_ "Don't look at me like that, it's the only thing we have available to wear, so even though you have not joined us yet, you are going to have to deal with it." She said.

Roxas sighed and shut the closet door. "Thanks." He said in reply.

"You're welcome." She said before she looked at her wrist. "Well, it's getting late, so I'll see you tomorrow. If you need anything, I'm in room seven."

And with that she left, leaving Roxas alone in the room. It was funny, being alone in here almost made him feel like he was back at his home in Destiny Islands, but he was quickly reminded that it no longer existed anymore.

Yawning, Roxas decided to kick off his shoes and lie down in his bed, waiting for sleep to come to him.

* * *

**_"Save your tears cause I'll come back_**

**_I could hear that you whispered as you walked through that door._**

**_But still I swore t_****_o hide the pain when I turn back the pages._**

**_Shouting might have been the answer_**

**_What if I cried my eyes out and begged you not to depart?_**

**_But now I'm not afraid to say what saved my heart..."_**

**~A 1000 Words by Noriko Matsueda & Takahito Eguchi (I think I spelled those right...)**

* * *

**Seriously, you guys are just overwhelming me with support for this story. There were 19 reviews on the last chapter, which is tie with my most reviewed chapter ever. This is just awesome. Thanks so much :)**

**If you guys want a better visual for the underground base, I recommend picturing it like the Helicarrier from The Avengers (with no windows of course). The uniforms the group is seen wearing is also very similar to those in the Avengers, but with the KH logo on the shoulder instead of the shield logo. For the girls, imagine Black Widow's uniform and for the boys, imagine Hawkeye's uniform but in all black.**

**And yes, Aerith's red scarf was something I borrowed from Mikasa from Attack on Titan. Between her, Eren, and Levi, she is one of my favorite characters so I just threw that out because of it.**

**I took the time to add several little Easter eggs in this chapter. Anyone who finds them gets bonus points!**

**Oh, and for all of you who know of my Marvel/Loki obsession, I absolutely loved Thor: The Dark World. Loki literally stole the show with this and that made it for me. My only complaints were the villain being sucky and it was predicable. But besides that, I loved it (especially the ending) even though it punched me in the feels repeatedly so bad that I was crying at certain points... But yeah, you guys definitely should go see it! (definitely better then IM3 in my opinion)**

**So that is really all I have to say so please R&R and look out for the next chapter!**


	4. A New Light

Nobody dreams suck; that was something Roxas learned a long time ago.

He dreamt that he was in the middle of a huge fire, but the area around him was not burning him yet. He could just barely make out the silhouettes of seven figures, each one calling out his name as they burned in the fire. As the dream went on, they began yelling at him, blaming him for their deaths, cursing him and the Guardians of Light. Even though they were saying cruel words to him, they continued to cry out _"Save us! Save us!"_ as the fire's flames got larger.

Roxas tried to save them, he really did, but whenever he tried to move he moved as if he was in slow motion. And it did not take long for the figures in the fire to vanish and for the flames to consume Roxas himself…

That is when he woke up, darting into a sitting position as he began to breath heavier than usual. Roxas could feel his newly discovered heart pounding in his chest so hard that he thought it would come out of him and flap on the floor like a fish out of water. He took a moment to calm himself before he stood out of the bed.

He was unsure of the time, but he knew he had to have received several hours of sleep. And, since he knew sleep would not come to him again, he decided to go over to the closet to change into a clean pair of clothes. Roxas frowned when he looked at the contents of the closet, almost forgetting that the only thing he had to wear was the Restoration Committee's uniform. He sighed, not wanted to change into the uniform, but he knew he had no choice.

So Roxas slipped out of his familiar clothing and slipped into the uniform Aerith had provided for him. They were comfortable, hugging his skin, but he refused to say it out loud. It was at this moment when Roxas noticed that there was a mirror on the inside portion of the closet door. He observed himself in the mirror, noting that the uniform fit him perfectly. He did not know how Aerith had managed to find him a uniform that was exactly his size, but he chose not to question her mysterious ways.

Once he looked at himself in the mirror on last time, Roxas shut the closet door and headed for the exit. The gush of fresh air greeted him as soon as he opened the door, allowing the hallway to be visible. Even though he only took his first and only walk in the hallway for the first time yesterday, he knew that he had to turn left and continue to walk down the hallway until he got to the door at the very end. He did just this, and in no time at all he entered into the main room that left him in a state of awe just yesterday.

There were not many people at the computer monitors as there where yesterday, with only Cid and a handful of others that their computers. Roxas did not know where everyone could be, but he decided to ignore the fact when he saw the flash of a red scarf in the corner of his eye.

Roxas turned gladly to see Aerith, with her back turned to him, talking to… wait, who was she talking too? There was no one in front of her, but Roxas noticed that Aerith's head continued to move as if she was watching several bugs swarm around her head. Slightly confused, Roxas walked closer to her, hoping that he would see what Aerith was looking at.

When Roxas finally saw what she was looking at, he froze in his tracks. Flying around Aerith were three small pixies, each one in their own tiny Restoration Committee uniform. These three pixies acted like they were the best of friends, but from their appearance, he couldn't imagine anyone believing them to be. One of them had short brown hair, chopped off at her shoulders with blue eyes that Roxas could spot out from a great distance away. The one to that pixie's left had long blonde hair that was kept up with a blue headband, and she was moving around much quicker than the others. The last one was the one that moved around the least with her arms crossed against her chest, and she had short, greyish brown hair that was styled to almost look like a Mohawk.

The first pixie, the one with the short brown hair, was the first to notice Roxas. "It's you!" She said in an excited tone before she quickly flew over to Roxas. The other two pixies followed her immediately, the blonde haired one being equally excited, while the grey haired one seemed like she could care less. Their flight also caused Aerith to turn around, and once she saw it was Roxas, she smiled and gladly walked up to him. "We were just talking about you!" The first pixie continued.

"Oh my goodness! I cannot believe I actually get to meet a new Guardian in person! I still can't believe that Ansem was correct!" The blond one squealed. "It is an honor, it really is!"

At that moment, the blond haired pixie flew very close to Roxas's face, observing his every movements. "Um… Hi?" Roxas said awkwardly, hoping that someone would pull the pixie away from his face.

Thankfully, Roxas's hopes were answered when the grey haired pixie pulled the blonde one away from his face, her hand going over the blonde one's mouth to get her to be quiet. "You are going to have to learn how to ignore her," she said calmly. "She can get a little too excited sometimes."

The blonde haired pixie continued to try and speak even though the other pixie's hand was over her mouth.

"Roxas, these are the Gullwings: Yuna, Rikku, and Paine," Aerith introduced, pointing her finger to each of the pixies when she said their name. "Fellow members of the Restoration Committee as well as trusted friends of ours."

Wait, the blonde's name was _Riku_?

"It is so very nice to meet you!" The pixie, revealed to be named Yuna, said happily. She then did something that Roxas did not know how to respond to: she held her tiny hand out for him to shake. So, trying to be careful, Roxas brought out his index finger and allowed her to grab on to it, and they shook 'hands.'

"Nice to meet you as well…" Roxas said, slightly awkward, but if he did sound that way, Yuna thankfully didn't notice. Instead, she only smiled from ear to ear, letting her sparkling white teeth shine for him.

"You three are supposed to be in the supply room," a voice said from behind them that made Roxas sigh and roll his eyes. The five turned to see Leon walking towards them, his hands behind his back, acting professionally. "You three are the ones who stole most of the items, shouldn't you be evaluating it?"

Roxas rolled his eyes. After what happened the night before, he was really not looking forward to seeing Leon again. And the fact that Leon was bossing these pixies around wasn't giving Roxas much hope of a friendship ever forming between them.

"We didn't 'steal' those items, we took them from Xehanort's lackeys to try and assist humanity in its survival." Yuna said, flying in front of Leon's face as she did so. "And you know that."

Leon arched an eyebrow at her. "Besides, it gets clammy in that room, we need some fresh air!" Rikku exclaimed happily.

Roxas was shocked to see Leon actually chuckle at this comment. _He actually had feelings?_ "Very well, but please do get back to the room as soon as you can," Leon replied.

"Of course sir," Paine said. "We have been out for several minutes, we should head back now."

To reply to their friend, Rikku and Yuna nodded before they began to fly away. However, before she left, Yuna turned around, waving her tiny hand to Roxas and said, "It was nice to meet you!" And once she said that, she flew in the other direction, following Rikku and Paine to their destination.

Once the three pixies were out of the room, Roxas heard chuckling and turned to see Aerith, holding her hand over her mouth. "What's so funny?" Roxas asked.

"Nothing, it's just…" She laughed again before continuing. "You should have seen the look on your face when I told you _Rikku's_ name."

Roxas tried to force out a smile to Aerith, but he couldn't find the will to do so as long as Leon was standing next to him. "Oh and by the way, your uniform looks nice on you," Aerith continued.

Roxas huffed before he looked down at himself. "I would prefer if you don't comment on that," he said as politely as he could. "Still not joining your Committee or whatever you call it."

Aerith placed a finger on her chin before she turned to Leon, who seemed to speak for her. "You don't need to join us to assist our cause," Leon explained. "We have several allies across the worlds who are not official members of the Restoration Committee, but they do help us. Perhaps you can join them."

"Joining you, helping you, what's the difference?" Roxas spat. He could have sworn at that moment that these two were attempting to trick him into joining the Committee and he was not about to fall for it. If there was a difference between the two, _maybe_ he would consider _helping_ them.

"It doesn't matter what the difference is," Aerith began. "All we want is to stop Xehanort, if you're an ally or an actual member, that is our goal. You can say you don't want to join us or ally with us as much as you want, but we know one thing: you _do_ want to stop Xehanort."

Roxas was taken aback by Aerith's words. She did not seem like the person to snap like that, but he admitted that he saw it coming from one of the members here. He refused to join them, it had to be coming eventually, he just wasn't expecting that person to be her.

"Does he even care if Xehanort is ruling the worlds? That the worlds are _suffering_ because of this man?" Leon asked him. "I would think that someone who actually does care would try and do something about it."

"Don't you _dare_ ask me if I care about Xehanort ruling the worlds," Roxas retorted. "Of course I care how could I not?"

"Well then why aren't you trying to find a way to stop him?" Leon continued to argue. "Joining us, even _helping us_ could bring the worlds' one step closer to stopping him. So why are you so against helping? Are you _afraid_ that Xehanort is going to find out and end our lives?"

"_Stop,_" Roxas hissed, but Leon ignored him.

"Tell me Roxas, if your life meant the worlds would continue to suffer, what would you do: end your life or allow them to continue their suffering?" Leon asked. "I am not saying that is the case, but you cannot let fear rule over you."

"I said _stop_," Roxas hissed out again. The former nobody did not even realize how close he was to Leon's face at this moment, staring him down, about ready to attempt to rip his head right off his body. Roxas wished he could summon both of his keyblades so that he could knock Leon into the next world, but he knew it was pointless so he did not even try.

How did Leon even have the nerve to say such words to him? Of course he didn't want the worlds to suffer, or course he wanted Xehanort dead for what he did. But Leon pushed Roxas to the limit when he claimed that Roxas was afraid of death. Everyone dies, so why should he be afraid of it? Was it just the thought of _dying_ at Xehanort's hand that scared him? No, Roxas wasn't afraid of that coward. All Xehanort wanted was to the rule the worlds, he got what he wanted, but he continued to let the worlds suffer. Xehanort just allowed the worlds to suffer so people could be afraid of dying at his hand, it did not mean that Xehanort could kill them.

Leon was wrong, he wasn't afraid of Xehanort or death.

_Or was he?_

Before Roxas could even attempt to think of anything to say back to Leon, a sudden alarm that startled all of them stopped him. As soon as it went off, the everyone began talking, panicking and looking to their monitors to know what to do next. Never before in his life had Roxas seen so much chaos occur in such a short amount of time. He had no idea what was going on, but apparently everyone else did.

"Leon!" Cid's voice called out, which made everyone turn to his direction. "I got a hit!"

Before he could say anything else, Leon and Aerith quickly jogged over to where Cid's computer was. Roxas, sighing, reluctantly followed, knowing that whatever this alarm was could not be a good sign.

Once they made it over to where Cid was, Leon spoke up. "What's happening?" He asked.

"Xehanort just sent a huge load of his soldiers out to another world!" Cid began to type quickly on his computer, causing a screen to show up that showed several rid blimps heading out of the world. "There's got to be at thirty of them heading out at least!"

"Do you have any idea as to who is leading them?" Leon asked before he placed his hands on the back of Cid's chair, nervously staring at the screen.

"Hard to say, but as far as we know, Xehanort has never sent a group of his soldiers out this large without one of his Seekers of Darkness leading them," Cid explained. "If one of his Darkness' isn't leading them, I would be extremely surprised."

"Well if that's not a sign that they found another Guardian of Light then I don't know what is," Aerith muttered before she cleared her voice. "We have to follow them, if there is a Guardian of Light there; we need to get to them before they do."

"What world are they heading to?" Leon asked, basically taking the words right out of Aerith's mouth.

Cid laughed. "They are actually heading to a place that Blondie might recognize."

"Blondie?" Roxas questioned, knowing that Cid was talking about him.

"Cid now is not the time for games," Aerith said calmly.

Cid huffed out another laugh before he finally responded. "They are heading course for Twilight Town."

When the words slipped from Cid's mouth, Roxas immediately froze, not being able to move. They were going to Twilight Town, _the world he called home_ for so long when he was a member of the Organization. It was the world he and Axel escaped to everyday after they finished their missions, and would just relax and eat sea salt ice cream. How could it possibly be on that world? Was it someone he knew?

Roxas heard Leon inhale next to him before the leader of the committee turned to him. "You want to prove you care about the worlds' safety?" He asked him. "Now is your chance."

Leon then began to quickly walk away, motioning for Roxas to follow, which he decided to do. As much as he hated Leon right now, he would prefer that if he was going to stay here until Xehanort gets off his back, that there would be no tension between the two. If doing what Roxas thinks Leon wants him to do is what it takes to remove that tension, it was something he was willing to do.

That and it would get Leon off his back about not caring about the worlds' safety.

Roxas had to jog to catch up to Leon, along with Aerith, who walked alongside the former nobody. It did not take long for them to get to one of the doors that Roxas did not know where it lead to yet and enter inside, which brought them into a long hallway. "We need to get to Twilight Town before Xehanort's crew does," Leon repeated himself. "The only way we can do that is if we send out the people meant to carry out missions outside this world."

"So I am taking it that Cid and Aerith would be joining me then?" Roxas figured. "They were the ones to come and get me so does that mean they will come with me too?"

"Actually, leaving the world for missions is not my department," Aerith said. "I normally stay here as a healer, since I am the most exceled in magic out of the committee. We only have one other ally who has more magic power then me."

"Well then why did you come to grab me at Destiny Islands?" Roxas asked.

"Because if we sent our normal group out, you would be so scared that you wouldn't want to come with us," Leon replied for her.

And this comment sent a chill down Roxas' spine.

"Cid should be bringing you there," Leon continued. "But besides him, you, and our two others, that will be all we send out. The less the better if we want to get out of there easily."

Roxas nodded, even though he knew Leon would not see it. The keyblader admitted to himself that without Aerith there, he would probably feel nervous later on about this; she was the only person he felt comfortable around out of all the people here after all. But he respected the system.

After several more short moments of speed walking, Leon and Aerith finally stopped at a door towards the end of the hall (which Roxas realized really wasn't as long as it seemed to be). Leon then gripped the doorknob tightly and opened it, revealing the huge room that hid behind the door. At first glance, Roxas could see it was some kind of training room, with several lifts and floor covered in mats being the most obvious give away. On the walls of the room, Roxas noticed it was lined with weapons, each being unique, that rested on ledges for each weapon. He was slightly amazed by how big of a variety of weapons they had, but he didn't bother to show it.

"You two heard the alarm?" Leon asked the two people in the room, who Roxas had just noticed. One of them, who was heading for the largest weapon he saw on the wall (a long, heavy sword with a pointed tip at an angle) with spiky blonde hair and eyes that were alive with energy. The other, who was simply strapping on fingerless gloves for protection, had long black hair and blue eyes, who glared at Leon when he walked in. The two both wore the uniforms of the committee, which both hugged the muscles that showed just how strong they were. Roxas identified the two, based off Sora's memories, as Cloud and Tifa, two of Sora's friends.

"Do you think we are deaf?" Tifa retorted as she strapped the last hatch of her gloves, which showed the scares of former fights on them.

"Just making sure of course," Leon replied to her. "I needed to bring who you were working with here anyway."

Upon hearing this, Tifa and Cloud both looked to Roxas, who just seemed to notice his presence in the room. As quickly as she noticed him, Tifa glared and looked away, making sure that the straps of her gloves were tight enough. Cloud was not much better, but he did acknowledge Roxas by nodding before he swung his large sword onto the holder that rested on his back.

"You really think that we are going to be able to get the new Guardian out of there fast enough with him joining us? All he would do is slow us down," Tifa finally said.

Roxas didn't argue with Tifa, since he did agree with her slightly, but that didn't mean that her words didn't irate Roxas.

"He can handle himself," Cloud said. "That is if he can fight like Sora did."

Roxas shrugged as all eyes turned on him. "I can manage," he replied.

"I'll be the judge of that," Tifa replied to him as she headed for the door with Cloud following behind her. And as quickly as they entered the room, the five of them were jogging out of it, heading back towards the main room before anyone could question their movements.

When they made it back to the main room, Leon immediately began to take order. "Cid!" He yelled. "Are you ready to head out?"

"Who do you think I am?" Cid yelled back, running up to the group before they could call out his name again. "Also went through the trouble of starting up the Gummi Ship before you ask."

"You four better head out _right now_," Leon warned the four. "Since most of his soldiers are probably going to Twilight Town, the streets should be empty for now. You better get to the Gummi Ship now before Xehanort fills them up with soldiers again."

Before he continued, Leon looked away into Aerith's eyes, which reassured him, and then he continued. "If Xehanort gets a hold of this Guardian, we are getting further and further away from stopping him. We have one Guardian _allied_ with us, but we have six more to go. I have full trust in you to get the Guardian out of there."

Leon then nodded to the group, and Cloud, Tifa, and Cid nodded back. Roxas couldn't find himself to nod, but he fully understood the mission and was ready to try and save this Guardian from Xehanort's clutches.

"Then move out," where Leon's last words to them before the three members of the committee ran in the opposite direction, towards the exit. Roxas followed their lead, trailing behind them by just a few inches.

But as they continued to run, Roxas couldn't help but wonder who this new Guardian could be. If it was a new Guardian, then he figured it must have been someone he didn't know, but he could not help but keep wondering. Roxas remembered from Sora's memories that being a keyblade wielder was rare, so maybe the person who is the new Guardian just was granted the power of the keyblade? Or maybe it was someone who had the keyblade for some time now, but only just gained the power?

As they got out of the house and were now running along the streets of Hollow Bastion, more thoughts began to travel through Roxas' mind. What if the person was a former Organization member, but since their heartless and nobody was destroyed, they came back as a human and were granted the power? Silently, Roxas prayed that it would not be the case, since he did think most of the former members of the Organization would be pleased with seeing him, and Roxas was just the same with most of the members. Who knows: maybe the person was the nobody of someone he knew, who had gained a heart without knowing it like Roxas did, and somehow got the power of the keyblade?

And as the invisible Gummi Ship reappeared before his eyes and they all quickly boarded it, Roxas wondered more possibilities. But before he could continue to come up with more, he stopped himself. Xehanort's men were going to get this new Guardian, to capture him/her and most likely later end their life. Who knows how far ahead they are! They could be at the world right now, towering over the new Guardian with a sword pointed at their chest. Twilight Town could be in flames just as Destiny Islands was when they left it…

But before Roxas could worry any further, the sudden jolt of the Gummi Ship startled him, which was a sign that the ship was taking off.

And as the ship flew through the star filled sky, Roxas could only pray that his former home was still intact.

* * *

_**"It's who we are**_

_**Doesn't matter if we've gone to far**_

_**Doesn't matter if it's all okay,**_

_**Doesn't matter if it's not our day.**_

_**So won't you save us?**_

_**What we are?**_

_**Don't look clear,**_

_**Cause' it's all up hill from here..."**_

**~Who We Are by Imagine Dragons**

* * *

**Oh my gosh guys, I am so sorry for the shortness of the chapter and the long wait! I had writers block for this chapter for some reason, and I can not say I am perfectly happy with it, but it is something right?**

**I know this chapter was somewhat of a filler/set up, which only introduced you to more characters and gave you more insight as to how the Restoration Committee is ran, but I can guarantee you, the next chapter does have stuff going down. We get introduced to not only a new Guardian, but also one of the surviving members of Xehanort's Seekers of Darkness!**

**Also, I have come up with a beta list of worlds that should be appearing in this story and what FF characters should be appearing. I hinted towards one of them in this chapter... So whoever finds it gets 200 bonus points!**

**Oh, and I came up with this thing I decided to do at the end of every chapter we get introduced to a new Guardian/Seeker of Darkness. So when this happens, I am going to make a list and add on new one. Here is what it looks like as of currently:**

**Guardians of Light:**

**Roxas**

**TBA**

**Seekers of Darkness:**

**Xehanort**

**Xigbar**

**Saix**

**Young Xehanort (not currently in this time frame)**

**TBA**

**I just thought it would help!**

**By the way, Catching Fire was amazing for all of you that didn't see it. Every close to the book in the second half of the film. I was very pleased with Katniss, Peeta, Finnick, and Johanna's performances! I cried like 5 times though... :(**

**So please R&R and look out for the next chapter!**

**P.S Shadows Assemble! XD (For those of you that don't know, The Shadows are what I call my fan base like. FE: Lady Gaga = Little Monsters, Slyfoxhound = The Homies, etc.)**


	5. Twilight Town

Roxas wished that the flight to Twilight Town didn't go by as fast as it did.

He had to admit, when they needed to get somewhere, Cid could get there twice as fast as they needed to go. It helped, it really did, and it proved to Roxas that Cid wasn't just the old, cranky grandpa he played off to be, he really did care about the safety of the worlds. But still, Roxas couldn't help but worry about the new Guardian's safety.

Before they landed, Cid cloaked the Gummi Ship with invisibly and then landed in a clear meadow in the woods where the Old Mansion used to be. Roxas could not tell if the Mansion was still there or not, since the area it was once in was overgrown with trees, but he figured it didn't matter.

Cid hit the switch that allowed the doors to open when Cloud began to take action. "Cid, stay here, when we get the new Guardian, we need to get out of here as soon as possible," he said. To respond, Cid gave Cloud a thumbs up. "Roxas, grab an Organization coat."

Before Roxas could question where the coats where, Tifa went to a double door that she opened, revealing several Organization coats on hangers, just waiting to be worn. Reluctantly, Roxas went over and grabbed the coat that looked to be in his size and slipped it on. By the time he was done, Cloud and Tifa were already cloaked and heading out the door. Sighing since he knew this was going to be a hard day, Roxas ran after them into the clear meadow.

For a brief moment, Roxas was relieved to breathe in the scent of flowers and fresh grass, something he was not able to smell for a long time since he lived on a beach. It amazed him as to how untouched this area seemed to be, perfectly fine even though Xehanort was still in rule. Without anyone looking, Roxas let out a light smile, appreciating the life that had managed to survive Xehanort's rule. He wished he could have stayed there for a long time, if he could, but Cloud managed to snap him back into reality.

"Our best beat would be to go this way," Cloud pointed in the direction of the Clock Tower, which could just barely be seen over the tall trees of the woods. "We can get to most of the town safely through the underground tunnels, one of them is there. They have been shut down since Xehanort took over, but if we play our cards right, we should be able to sneak in. When in there we head to the main part of town, it would make the most sense if Xehanort's lackeys were there since it's the most populated area."

Roxas was stunned by how heavily Cloud took control over a situation. Judging from how much he knew about the area, Roxas figured that he must have lived here for a short period of time, just enough to know the area this well. But Roxas was also shocked by Cloud's leadership skills. He knew from Sora's memories that when Cloud had a goal in mind, he would do anything to accomplish it, including joining forces with the god of the underworld himself and fight a person stronger than anyone he had ever seen. But still, this was impressing the keyblader.

"Roxas," he heard Tifa hiss. Roxas turned his head slightly to see Tifa, looking down at him, with anger in her bright blue eyes. "You better keep up."

Roxas resisted the urge to roll his eyes at her before he nodded. "No problem," he said casually. Tifa nodded in return before she turned to Cloud, who nodded back at her. Cloud then turned around, looking straight at the Clock Tower, and began running towards it. Tifa quickly followed, and Roxas did the same shortly afterwards.

When the three were about halfway to the Clock Tower, a sudden movement in the ground stopped them in their tracks. Roxas turned his head around quickly to see a huge puff of black smoke rising from another part of the town. Roxas heard Tifa curse before she began to speak again. "Damn it! Come on, we need to get there fast!" She yelled.

"That was in the main part of town…" Roxas realized, not even realizing he said that out loud. He stared at the black smoke for what seemed like forever, worrying about the people living there and their safety. He hadn't seen them in such a long time, but Roxas couldn't help but wonder if Hayner, Pence, and Olette where there or if they even survived this long. Even though it had been some time since they saw each other, they were the only friends Roxas had left that were alive.

"Of course it was," Cloud said. "Come on, we need to get moving to the tunnels."

"No, no we don't," Roxas muttered to himself. For a moment, Roxas began to search through his own memories, recalling the times he, Hayner, Pence, and Olette would run through this town, and all their secret shortcuts they had come up with. When Cloud called out his name, wondering if Roxas was even paying attention, the former nobody remembered an area not too far away from here, one that would get them to their destination quicker.

"Follow me!" Roxas yelled before he began running. He could hear Cloud and Tifa call his name out in frustration behind him, but he kept running. If his memories were correct, there should be a shortcut just straight ahead, through the woods. After several short seconds of running, Roxas came across the wall that surrounded Twilight Town. And thankfully, when he looked down, he saw the hole in the wall, the one that lead to the Old Mansion, was still there. He felt relief sink over him as soon as he saw the hole, hopeful now, they can get to the main part of town before anything else happened.

When Cloud and Tifa caught up to him, Roxas turned around, standing right in front of the hole. "Told you," he spat.

While Tifa sent him a death glare, Cloud only stepped forward. "That was a dumb move," he told him. "But I admit, I'm impressed."

Before Roxas could return the comment, the three suddenly felt the ground beneath them shake again. Using the hole in the wall, Cloud lead the group, stepping into the hole, bringing them into the walls of Twilight Town. Thankfully, there was so much large debris on the ground that they were not noticed by the group of Xehanort's soldiers that stood several feet in front of him. Before Roxas could attempt to get any closer to them, Cloud grabbed onto his shoulder and pulled him down to the ground, hiding him behind a large piece of debris. "Stay down!" He whispered, but Roxas knew if he was given the chance, he would have yelled. The three of them stayed completely still behind the debris, out of the soldier's sight. "If they see us things will only get ten times more complicated than they already are."

For a brief moment, all was silent, and the three did not hear anything from behind the debris they were hiding behind. For a moment, Roxas was beginning to wonder if they had left the area, moving onto another since there was no success in his one. But a sudden, loud voice stopped that.

"No Guardian detected," one soldier's voice said. Roxas took note of how robotic the voice sounded before he continued to listen. "Move on to the next area for inspection."

Without Tifa or Cloud noticing, Roxas slowly turned his head at an angle so he could see the soldiers. Thankfully, they were not looking at him, so he figured it was safe. The soldiers were standing next to what looked like it used to be a building, like a shop of some sort, but it was now destroyed. Roxas glared at the scene from under his hood, having a hard time believing that blowing up places was the _only_ way they could find this new Guardian.

"Find the Guardian," another soldier said. "Look in the next building."

Roxas steadied his breathing before he looked away from the scene, not wanting to see the soldiers blow up someone's building, with the possibly of someone else being inside it. It disgusted Roxas that Xehanort commanded his soldiers to blow up innocent people's homes just to find this new Guardian. Weren't there other methods of trying to find the Guardian? This was not necessary, so he figured that Xehanort must have been doing this to scare the other people, setting the example that he was in charge of the worlds.

When Roxas looked away, all was quiet for several minutes, which was surprising to the three; no sound of an explosion or the soldiers came. But before they could question what was happening, a voice cried out.

"Intruders!" One of the soldiers cried. Before the three could even react, they suddenly heard gunshots coming right towards them, and they banged against the debris they were hiding behind. Roxas heard Tifa curse again before she brought her fist up and tightened her gloves, preparing for a fight.

While Tifa did this, Roxas noticed Cloud bring his sword out, preparing as well. "I don't see any sight of the Seeker of Darkness yet, we can handle them," he said.

Figuring that they were also talking to him, Roxas summoned his keyblade, but as quickly as he did so, Cloud grabbed a hold of his wrist. "What are you doing?" He asked.

"Me and Tifa have this handled, you stay here," Cloud said.

"What? I thought the whole point of me coming with you was to fight alongside you, not just sit on the sidelines!" Roxas protested.

"No, the whole point of you coming was to help us find the new Guardian, you can't do that if your dead," Cloud continued.

"I can fight!" Roxas was beginning to get frustrated now. He had a keyblade, he was a Guardian, he was so many other things that these two weren't, but yet they didn't want his help fighting these soldiers?

"I am aware of that, but you need to stay here!" Cloud was yelling over the sound of bullets being fired at them. Before Roxas could protest any further, Tifa and Cloud jumped out from behind the debris, leaving Roxas alone. Frustrated, Roxas hit his keyblade against the ground so hard that it unsummoned itself. The battle cries of Cloud and Tifa made him even more mad as he followed their orders and stayed put.

But after a short while, Roxas noticed something out of the corner of his eye, like a shadow that seemed to move on its own. Roxas turned his head quickly to see the entrance to the underground tunnels of the town. But that is not what caught Roxas' eye, it was the figure in a black Organization XIII coat that was trying to break into it, who had come out of hiding the moment Cloud and Tifa had the soldiers' attention.

Roxas did not dare move from his position, but he watched the figure with careful eyes; which he could tell was female by her body frame and her movements. Cloud was right about the tunnels being closed down, since there were huge, barred doors with a big lock that prevented her from entering. Roxas couldn't help but think her attempts were useless to escape, the doors were too well-built and it wouldn't take long for Xehanort's soldiers to notice her and place her under arrest for wearing an Organization coat.

Or at least Roxas believed she wouldn't be able to escape until she summoned a keyblade.

Roxas took in a deep breath before he gaped at the scene, not believing it was happening. The girl had a keyblade in her hands, _Kingdom Key_, which Roxas didn't even believe was possible. How did she have Kingdom Key when he wielded it as well? But Roxas did not pay attention to that fact because there was something more important about this: she was a Guardian. If she had a keyblade, which she did, she was one. It was then when it made sense to Roxas: why she wore the Organization coat, why she was trying to get away through the tunnels, _everything_.

To try and stop her, Roxas brought his hand out and was about to call out to her, but she unsummoned her blade, opened the door and entered the tunnels before he could do anything. The fact that she escaped without even bothering to close the gates behind her proved even more so to Roxas that she was a Guardian, the one they were looking for. She was _right there_, only a few feet away from Roxas, and she slipped out of his fingers that easily.

So, the only logical thing that Roxas could think of was to follow her.

…

_Keep running, don't look back, just get out of here._

That was the only thing that was running through her head as she ran through the underground tunnels of Twilight Town, faster than her legs could carry her. She was breathing at a heavy rate from running for so long and from fear, but she didn't bother to pay attention to it. If she wanted to get out of her, _to survive,_ she needed to keep running.

After several more minutes of running, the girl was forced to come to a stop from fatigue. She stopped in a more open area of the tunnels and rested her back against the wall, trying to remain as quiet as she possibly could. She could hear no footsteps from behind her, so she knew no one noticed her escape. She breathed in a sigh of relief as she looked back where she came from, seeing no one following her. For a moment, just for a brief moment, she thought she was home free, she escaped Xehanort's clutches.

But that feeling did not last for long because some magic attack came and hit her dead on in the other direction.

She grunted when the magic attack hit her, which she knew immediately was a blizzard attack from the cold surge that went through her body. The attack also sent her back, causing her to skid against the brick floor of the tunnels. She was on the verge of tears from the pain when she finally came to a stop, and she used the brief amount of time she had to look down at the area that the blizzard attack hit her (in her left side). Her eyes widened underneath her hood as she saw the frost starting to climb up her body, making every part of it freeze.

She knew she would not be able to get up, but despite knowing this she tried anyway, using her arms and knees to rise herself up. But every attempt to do this failed. After several more attempts of doing this, she felt a strong hand grip onto her right arm, forcing her into a weak standing position. Whoever was doing this then pinned her against the wall, thinking cleverly by pinning her against her right arm while her left side remained unusable from the ice.

From underneath her hood, she looked at the figure that had captured her, studying him. She could not see his face due to the black and grey helmet that covered his face. Her eyes moved down to look at his red and black body suit that covered every inch of his body. At his waist, there were three belts that held a piece of fabric that draped off his waist like a cape. He also wore red and black boots, matching his body suit that made him every bit as intimidating.

Before began to speak, she heard the man laugh. "Trying to escape?" He asked her. "Nice try."

She tried to pull away from him, but he would not allow her to do anything like that. "Almost made it, you kind of ruined it though," she retorted.

He laughed again. "Well you see, my boss just really needs you Guardians dead," he said calmly. "I'm sure you understand."

Before he continued, he took his free arm and held it out to his side, and before she could blink, a red, grey, and black keyblade appeared in his hand. Her eyes widened at the intimidating sight, the piece catching her attention the most being the blue eyes that rested on the halt and in-between the center of the key's teeth. He looked at it briefly before he pointed the tip of the blade at her neck. "Have to get the job done, right?"

She glared at him from under her hood. "You can try whatever you want to keep Xehanort in power, but you can't protect him forever," she restored. "One day, the worlds will realize they have to stop you, and then none of you will stand a chance."

She heard him huff out a laugh at her comments. "A fighter huh?" He seemed to question. "I like that about you, still doesn't mean I won't kill you but you've earned my respect." He paused and looked at her, as if he was trying to see what face lied underneath the hood. "No hard feelings?"

He then pinned his arm against her neck, making it difficult for her to breathe, but she did manage to get air into her lungs. He pinned her down well, and she knew she was not going to escape anytime soon. He brought his keyblade closer to her neck, moving it slowly to make sure that she knew it was coming.

"Leave the girl alone."

The voice made the man pinning her down stop as soon as the voice echoed across the tunnel walls. He loosened his grip on her slightly, not enough to allow her to escape, but enough for to move her head slightly in the direction of the voice. Standing just a few feet away from them was another figure, standing strongly in an Organization XIII coat. He didn't dare move from his position and, even though his hood was up, she could practically feel his eyes staring directly at them.

Upon seeing him, Vanitas laughed, but didn't move his eyes off this new figure. "Why didn't you tell me you had a friend?" He asked as he brought his keyblade closer to her neck. "I would have invited him to watch the show in the first place."

For a moment, the new figure did not make a move and only stood there, standing his ground. But before Vanitas could attempt to do anything else, the figure brought his hands up and removed his hood, allowing his face to be seen.

And that is what made her heart stop beating.

_It was him_. Upon seeing his sight, she wanted to jump at him and embrace him in a hug out of her joy for seeing him again, but Vanitas did not allow her to do that. Oh how she wished she could though, the last time he saw her was when she was dying in his arms, dissolving into nothingness as everyone started to forget any memories of her…

This very thought might as well punched her in the stomach. That was right, after what happened, no one remembered her, not even him, who was one of her best friends. She let out a sad sigh as she looked at his blue eyes and spiky, blond hair, knowing that even though she remembered him, he would not remember her.

But if he didn't remember her, why was he here? Sure, it could be because he is a Guardian as well as her and he is just trying to save her, but who knows. She knew that he had to be a Guardian, but maybe he did somehow remember her, and was saving her because of that.

She could hear the man holding her against the wall laugh as Roxas brought out his hand and summoned his keyblade, teasing him. She saw Kingdom Key shine brightly in his hand, and it made her feel nostalgic, but she couldn't help but wonder why he hadn't summoned Oathkeeper and Oblivion. She knew that he had learned to summon them shortly after she… died, so she wondered why he didn't use them. The two blades could have ended this man easily, in fact he might have run off if he saw two keyblades appear in his hands.

"I said let her go," he repeated. His position was strong and firm, sowing with his movements that he was not leaving anytime soon. This made her thankful, even if Roxas didn't remember her, he still was willing to sacrifice his life for her.

"I am afraid that it is not going to be that simple," he tightened his grip on her, which caused her to inhale heavily. "See, my boss wants her dead as well as you. Can't have Guardians of Light running around with Xehanort still around."

The two did not move for several short moments, but then the man holding her down did something that she was not expecting: he let her go. She fell to the floor the instant his arm stopped pinning her down, relieved to finally be able to breathe completely again. But before she could get up and run away, he fired a blast of blizzard right at her arm, the one that she used to summon her keyblade with. She let out a short cry of pain as her arm froze and, since it was close to the wall, her arm was now stuck against the brick wall. She tried to pull away from the wall, trying to break the ice that connected them, but it would not break. She knew at that moment that this man was skilled in magic.

"But before I do that, I have curiosity getting the best of me," he commented, slowly walking towards Roxas casually. "My question is whose nobody are you really: Ventus or Sora's?"

Roxas made a confused face at him for a moment and he lowered his keyblade. "What are you talking about?" He asked him.

"So even you don't know," he continued. He looked off in the distance for a moment before he looked back at Roxas. "Every one of us Seekers of Darkness has been trying to figure that out. We guessed that the only one who knows is the one who manipulated your life." She knew at that moment that he was talking about Ansem, Ansem the Wise. "I figured that you would know to, but I guess I was wrong."

"Start making sense!" Roxas yelled, pointing his keyblade at the man. "I am not here to answer your questions; I am here to get her away from people like you."

For the first time since he appeared, he actually sounded like the Roxas she remembered.

"Hold your horses!" He exclaimed. He then placed his finger to his chin, stuck in a pensive thought, before he continued. "Maybe, you'll remember whose nobody you are if I show you who _I_ am."

"What are you—"

Before Roxas could continue, he froze along with her. The moment that man said those words, his helmet began to vanish, literally _vanish_ before their eyes. Neither one of them could move their eyes away from the sight as the helmet evaporated into nothing. When the helmet was completely gone, she could not help but gasp.

He looked just like Sora but with pitch black hair and piercing yellow eyes.

* * *

**_"When the stars start to shine,_**

**_The gods above us smiling in the night._**

**_Like spark to a flame,_**

**_Feel it as my fear begins to fade..."_**

**To Feel Alive by Iameve**

* * *

**DUN DUN DUH!**

**So, even though their names were not yet revealed, I am pretty sure you all know who just appeared, and I hope you are excited!**

**And I am sorry for the shortness of this chapter. I would have wrote more, but unfortunately, it is that time of year again: finals are coming up shortly. I managed to get this chapter done in between studying. I _may_ be able to do it again, but if I don't update for a while, you all know why.**

**But on the bright side Kingdom Hearts 2.5 HD Remix is confirmed to appear at Jump Festa! Hopefully we will get a release date at least for Japan.**

**Also, for all you readers of the Reconnect Series, I have a poll concerning it if you don't mind voting!**

**So that is really all I have to say so please R&R and look out for the next chapter! You support so far has been AMAZING! So thank every single one of you reading this!**

**SHADOWS ASSMBLE!**


	6. Vanitas and Questions

Roxas was frozen the moment he saw the man's face.

_He looked just like Sora._ How was that even possible? Besides his hair and eye color, everything about his face looked identical to Sora's, even his grin. His outfit also seemed familiar to him, something from Sora's memories, but they were too hazy to tell.

Before Roxas could ask how it was possible, the man spoke before him. "How do I look like Sora you ask? That is a long story, but to keep it short, it is similar to why you look like Ventus," the man began.

Roxas did not respond at first and only stared at the man. "Who are you?" He asked suddenly.

The man laughed. "Name's Vanitas," he replied, "Being of darkness as well as one of the remaining Seekers of Darkness, nice to meet you."

The sarcastic nature of the man startled Roxas. How could this person look just like Sora but be completely opposite of him personality wise? Then again, Roxas wasn't all that much like Ventus, but he still wondered why that was so.

"No…" Roxas muttered, being at a loss for words for the moment. "It doesn't matter now, just… let her go."

"I thought I told you I cannot let that happen," Vanitas replied. "She is a Guardian of Light, and we all know what Xehanort wants done to her."

Roxas turned his head slightly to look down at the girl on the ground, whose breathing he could hear from his position. Her face was still covered by the hood, but he knew she must have been showing some kind of fear on her face from underneath. Knowing this, he quickly brought his keyblade out and pointed it at Vanitas, showing that he was not going to give up.

**(Enter the Darkness – Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep)** "If you won't let her go," Roxas began, "Then I am just going to have to make you."

Roxas saw Vanitas laugh before the man let out a sinister laugh, and then he brought out his own keyblade. "Then let's get started!"

Before Roxas even had time to prepare for the fight he knew was coming, Vanitas launched himself towards Roxas, almost gliding on the air quickly over to the former nobody. Roxas' eyes widened at the capable speeds Vanitas was able to accomplish, but he tried to take that thought out of his mind and focused on trying to get away from the attack Vanitas was trying to perform on him. Just at the last second, Roxas managed to jump out of the way, which proved to be difficult with how narrow the halls in the tunnel were, but he managed to use every bit of space available to escape his attack. Vanitas landed back on the ground on the place where Roxas once stood, a grin appearing on his face, before he jumped at Roxas again, this time the two locking keyblades with one another, Roxas' steel blue eyes looking into Vanitas' glowing yellow ones.

"I can see why you're a Guardian," Vanitas commented before he jumped back, raising his keyblade as high in the air as he could. "You have the heart to fight a battle you know you won't win!" Vanitas then brought his keyblade back down to his level and pointed it right at Roxas, who just noticed the ball of darkness resting on the tip of his keyblade. Before Roxas could respond, the darkness left the tip of Vanitas' keyblade, going right towards the former nobody. Thankfully, Roxas managed to dodge the attack, rolling out of the way but once he did that, Vanitas quickly charged over to him and knocked the Guardian off his feet, making him land on his back and having the wind knocked out of him for a brief moment.

When Roxas looked back up, he saw Vanitas jumping towards him again, with his keyblade pointed directly at his chest. Just when he was about to bring his keyblade down on him, Roxas managed to roll out of the way, not before he brought his keyblade up and fired a blast of blizzard right at him. This made Vanitas go flying backwards; making him hit the wall on the other side of the hall and land face first on the ground. Vanitas quickly got back up on his hands and knees to wipe his lip before he grinned, and ran towards Roxas again, who was standing back up. The two locked keyblades once more, both of them constantly trying to push the other person down by pressing their keyblade up against their opponent. After a few short moments, Vanitas successfully managed to push Roxas away and attempted to shoot darkness attacks at him, but the Guardian managed to bring his keyblade up to guard the attacks.

"Pathetic," Vanitas muttered, just loud enough for Roxas to hear him. Growling to himself, Roxas ran towards Vanitas while using a fire magic spell, but Vanitas managed to block the attacks. However, Vanitas was so focused on blocking the fire that he didn't even notice Roxas had made it in front of him, and the Guardian brought his keyblade down on Vanitas, hitting him with a combo. Once Roxas was about to finish the combo with another magic attack, Vanitas managed to bring his keyblade up to block the attack. Roxas still came running towards him though, and Vanitas had to bring his keyblade out to counter the attack, blocking it so swiftly that Roxas was shocked he managed to bring it up so fast. After several more attempted attacks, the two's keyblades met once more, and the two were face to face once again.

"Wait, what?" Vanitas suddenly said, pushing Roxas back as far as he could with his keyblade. Once Roxas regained his footing, he looked to Vanitas, who had lowered his keyblade and now had one hand on his ear, as if he was listening to something, or someone. "Are you kidding me? I _was_ kind of in the middle of a battle here!"

At that moment, Roxas knew Vanitas must have had an earpiece in and was talking to someone on the other end. By the tone of his voice, Roxas could tell that whoever was on the other line was not making Vanitas happy. The Guardian knew that this was the perfect time to attack while he was preoccupied, but before Roxas could make a move, Vanitas' sigh stopped him.

"Ug, fine," he said before he removed his hand from his ear and unsummoned his keyblade. Then, before Roxas could question his actions, Vanitas summoned a Corridor of Darkness. "You're lucky, the boss called, wants me to return to the castle for some reason."

"What and you're just going to leave two Guardians here alone? You _do_ realize this is our chance to escape, right? I thought you had to kill us," Roxas questioned sarcastically.

"What do you think I was trying to tell him?" Vanitas spat. "I knew Xehanort hiring him was a bad idea from the start, but no one ever listens to the one who failed the attempt at forging the X-Blade for the first time."

So Xehanort wasn't the person on the other line then, interesting. When he first heard Vanitas use the term _boss_, he thought he knew it was Xehanort, but apparently not. But if Xehanort wasn't on the other line, then who was?

"Whatever, I don't have time for this," Vanitas waved Roxas off. "Just enjoy your time to escape now; because next time our destiny's cross paths, it won't be as easy _Ventus._"

And, as quickly as he arrived, Vanitas walked through the Corridor of Darkness and left. And, before he even had time to think about if he should follow him, Roxas saw the portal close, taking Vanitas with it. **(End Enter the Darkness)**

_What the hell was that about?_

Roxas wished that he could remember Sora's memories clearly, because if he did, all these unanswered questions could have answers to them by now. He knew who Ventus was; he was the boy that looked like him, but why did Vanitas question who's nobody he was? It had to be Sora, that is who he always believed it to be, or was he? Not only that, but why did Vanitas look so much like Sora? Was there an unanswered connection or was it answered because he didn't remember Sora's memories clearly?

Roxas did not have time to think about that though and he turned to the girl, who almost had her arm unfreezed from the wall but was still having some trouble. Acting carefully, Roxas summoned a small fire on the tip of his keyblade and shot it at the ice, melting it instantly. But before she even had time to thank him, Roxas helped her up, held onto her hand, and made a run for it down the hall, bringing her with him.

It seemed like forever, but after several minutes, Roxas saw the light at the end of the tunnel, literally. Taking in a sigh of relief, he ran out into the light with the girl, bringing the fresh air into his lungs. They were in the area right in front of the Clock Tower and, thankfully, there were none of Xehanort's soldiers around here, not yet at least. "Come on," he told her. "They can get here any minute and we need to get back to the Gummi Ship with Cloud and Tifa if we want to stand a chance. We need to find them first, but if we're lucky they might still be—"

"Roxas."

Her voice sounded so familiar to him but he couldn't put his finger on where he had heard it before. Maybe it was just the fact that she cut him off so suddenly that it just sounded familiar to him. Despite the fact though, he turned to face her, only to be greeted by the hood that still covered her face. He didn't need to look at it long however, because, slowly, she put her hands on her hood and pulled off, revealing her blue eyes and short, jet black hair. She smiled upon making eye contact with Roxas. "It's great to see you again," she commented.

Roxas arched an eyebrow at her. "Again?" He asked.

Immediately, the smile from her face faded, but she looked as if she was expecting it. He could have sworn she muttered something, but it was too quiet to hear. "Never mind," she said sullenly. Before Roxas could question her sudden change in character, she held her hand out to him. "I'm Xion."

Looking at her gloved hand carefully, Roxas slowly brought his hand out and shook it in reply. "Roxas."

She grinned at the sound of his name, even though she already knew it before he even took his hood off in the tunnel. "Thanks for helping me." She said.

Roxas did not say anything at first, and only stared into her so familiar blue eyes. "Don't thank me yet, we still need to get out of here," he replied. "If we head down over this way we should run into Cloud and Tifa eventually…"

He trailed off suddenly when he spotted something out of the corner of his eye; it's blue and yellow body making its presence visible. It couldn't be what he thought it was, could it? Slowly, he turned his body to see it fully and, even thought it was right in front of him, he still could not believe it was what he thought it was. He didn't even pay attention to Xion and only walked towards the object, but it took looking at it close up for him to finally accept the truth of what it was.

It was Hayner's struggle bat.

Roxas froze at the sight of it. Even though he was only friends with the fake Hayner, he knew one thing was for sure: Hayner _never_ left his struggle bat alone. Normally, he would carry it around with him, hung over his shoulder just in case Seifer walked passed them, gloating to the bully. He would never let it just leave it on the ground, it was practically a trophy to him. Seeing it on the ground was something Roxas _never_ hoped to see. That, and the fact that it was there couldn't mean good news for Pence and Olette either.

Before he attempted to pick it up, he felt a hand on his shoulder. He didn't even need to look up to know who it was. "I'm sorry," Xion's voice said, her hand instantly gripping tighter on Roxas' shoulder. Without her noticing, a silent tear fell from his eye.

Why was he even crying? Roxas knew the moment he got caught up with the Restoration Committee that he was going to lose people he cared about, and there was absolutely nothing he could do about it. So why was he crying over people that technically didn't even know who he was? He thought he had learned to accept that people were going to die during his journey, but apparently he didn't. _Stop your acting stupid,_ he continued to say to himself over and over again in his mind until the single tear vanished from his cheek.

Once he was sure that Xion would not notice his tears, Roxas removed her hand from his shoulder and stood back up. "It's fine," he said bluntly. "It doesn't even matter anymore; we just need to find Cloud and Tifa."

Something deep inside Roxas told him that there was no way Xion believed his words. He might have only known her for a few moments, but he could tell that's how she was. In a way, Xion reminded Roxas of Kairi: both of them being innocent, caring for people they hardly knew, even the fact that they could both fight well if they were given the chance. In fact, if Vanitas didn't use the blizzard attack on her, Roxas knew Xion probably could have handled him herself. Vanitas was just playing hard to get, but if he wasn't, she would have been fine.

"Thankfully, you don't need to look far," a voice said behind them. Upon hearing it, Roxas and Xion both turned to see Cloud and Tifa walking towards them. Roxas somehow knew that things were not going to go well with Cloud and Tifa, especially since Tifa looked just about ready to kill him.

"Are you an idiot?" She spat at him. _Saw that one coming_. "You can't just run off like that and expect everything to turn out fine!"

Roxas shook his head. "But it did this time, didn't it?" He retorted. "Look, I'm alright, she is alright, everything is fine!"

"But it could have easily made a turn for the worst!" Tifa yelled back before she placed her hand on her forehead. "Whatever, I shouldn't be stressing about this, what I should be stressing about is getting you two back to the ship safely because even though you _never_ listen, you are still the worlds' last hope."

"As much as I agree with Tifa…" Cloud trailed off, inhaling deeply before continued. "He did successfully find the other Guardian; we have to be thankful for that." He then turned to Xion. "Now, what's your name again?"

"Xion," she replied with a smile. It was an amazing sight to see for Roxas, since she looked like Kairi, in a way, she looked like Namine too and seeing her smile again… It was heartwarming.

"Well, thankfully we cleared out most of the soldiers that were in the area we were last in, which was most of the fleet, but there are still some sneaking around here. If we are lucky, we should be able to get to the woods by heading back to that area through the tunnels."

"Actually, I don't think we need to worry about the soldiers anymore," Roxas said, leaving confused faces upon Cloud and Tifa. "I managed to fight the leader of the group, or at least I think he was. He said he was one of the Seekers of Darkness and he left suddenly, so I am guessing that since he left, the others must have left too, or at least most of them."

Cloud looked at Roxas with a squinted eye, studying the Guardian's face after he said those words before he spoke himself. "Seems logical," he said, placing his hand on his chin as if he was thinking. "If you believe that so well, then we can just take the way we just came from back to the main part of town. If we see anymore of Xehanort's soldiers along the way, we'll take them out; they shouldn't be that much of a hassle if there are only two or three in a group."

Roxas nodded before he turned to Xion. "You're okay to fight if we have to, right?" He asked her.

She nodded. "Still is a little cold but I can handle myself," she replied. _Yup, she was definitely just like Kairi_.

And as soon as she said those words, the three headed out back to the hole in the wall. Thankfully, Roxas' prediction was right and only a few stray soldiers remained in town, which Cloud and Tifa cleared out so quick that Roxas and Xion didn't even get the chance to summon their weapons before they were gone. Then, after just a few short minutes, they made it back to the ship, introducing Xion to the rest of the group before they took off, back to Radiant Garden.

…

Xion rubbed her hands against her arms, trying to get used to the Restoration Committee uniform as she looked around their base. Thankfully, once the group landed back in Radiant Garden, they had no problem with sneaking back through several alleyways in their Organization coats. When they made it back to the base, a young woman named Yuffie gave her a room and a uniform, which she changed into right away. Then, since it was only about midday, Xion came back out of her room to the main room of the base and just looked around in awe. It was amazing, she admitted, that they could hide something like this from Xehanort for so long.

It only took a few short minutes of her standing in the room before she felt the presences of someone approaching. Turning her head, Xion looked to see a young woman, wearing the same uniform she was but she wore a red scarf around her neck. "Hello," she said with a smile, "Xion right?"

_Well the word got around about me fast…_ She thought. "That's me," Xion replied, pointing a finger to herself.

The other woman held out a hand, which Xion took instantly. "I'm Aerith," she said. "It's nice to meet you. We have been trying to find these new Guardians ever since we knew about their existence, so it's finally nice to meet another one of you."

"Nice to meet you too," Xion continued the conversation. Before she could attempt to say anything else Aerith leaned in towards her, studying Xion's face carefully. Taken aback by this, Xion's eyes widened until Aerith returned to her normal position.

"That's funny," she said. "Ansem the Wise talked about you like you were some kind of monster, but I don't see that at all."

"Ansem the Wise?" Xion asked shocked. "How do you remember hearing about me? No one was supposed to remember me after I was defeated a few years ago."

"Oh, he never mentioned you to me actually," Aerith explained. "You see, since Ansem and some of his workers lived in the Castle here when Xehanort took over, Xehanort threw them in the dungeon. But before he was taken as prisoner, Ansem managed to transport some of his journals to us. Many of these journals had magic seals on them, so even when you ceased to exist, the writings about you didn't fade. He talked about you a lot, and that was how we found out about you and the new Guardians."

Xion looked away from her. "So you only know about me because you read about me in his journals, not because people are actually remembering who I am?"

Aerith nodded.

Deep down inside, Xion was actually hoping that people actually were starting to remember her. Back when they were in Twilight Town, when Roxas said he didn't remember who she was, she was heartbroken. For a brief moment, Xion thought that Aerith actually was remembering something Ansem told her, but Aerith didn't even know Xion existed until she read the journals. She sighed; obviously getting people to remember her wasn't going to be easy.

"Surprised that old coot even wrote about me," she laughed. "That guy couldn't stand me."

"He was troubled by his own darkness for a long time, but he has changed, believe me, I just hope that he is still alright in Xehanort's prison." Aerith was quite for some time before she looked at Xion again. "Did you know any of them?"

"Any of who?"

"The Guardians of Light, the old ones, that…" Aerith couldn't continue her sentence, but Xion knew what she was trying to talk about.

"Axel—or Lea, was actually one of my closet friends," she began. "But, even if he was alive, he probably wouldn't even remember me…" She stopped herself before she talked about _him_. "And, I knew Riku. I spent a few days with him, he tried pressuring me into helping revive Sora's memories, and I was mad about it. But I know he only meant it for the best of things. I looked to him as a friend but I never knew if he looked at me the same way."

Aerith smiled, noticing Xion's sadness. "I am sure he looked at you the same way," she told her.

_I sure hope so_, was Xion's last thought before her and Aerith ceased talking for a long time.

…

Roxas hated explaining things, always worrying that he would leave something important out of the explanation, but since Cloud and Tifa _insisted_ it, Roxas was forced to explain _everything_ that happened in Twilight Town to Leon. He tried to go over every detail, not leaving out a single event that happened while there. Once he was finished, he took in a much needed breath, waiting for a response from Leon, who placed a finger on his chin.

"So they sent Vanitas out to try and capture Xion, but one of the other Seekers of Darkness commanded him to leave…" Leon repeated to himself.

"That person could be anyone really," Tifa said, who was standing on the other side of the room along with Cloud. "Vanitas was in one of the higher rankings of the Organization, but since most of the weaker ones were killed off by the original Guardians, he made his way down to the bottom of the barrel."

"His failure in forging the X-Blade for the first time never was exactly forgiven," Cloud added.

"Well whoever that person on the other line was must have had a good reason for him to return to the Castle without completing his mission." Leon said. "Xehanort must be planning something, and he needs the remaining Seekers of Darkness to do it."

"Speaking of Vanitas," Roxas cut in. "What did he mean when he asked me who's nobody I was? I am Sora's, right?"

Silence.

"Right?" Roxas repeated. "Please tell me even _you guys_ don't know!"

"You are both," Tifa said suddenly. "Or, at least that is what Ansem the Wise believed."

"What are you talking about?" Roxas questioned.

"Ansem explained it like this," Leon began. "Ventus, the one who looks like you, was in Sora's heart when you were created, so you gained his appearance. But since he only had half a heart at the time, you are still Sora's nobody. But Ventus' half a heart went into you, so at the same time, you were Sora and Ventus' nobody."

Roxas folded his arms. "I guess that makes sense."

"Also explains why you can use two keyblades," Cloud added.

"Explains why _used to be able to_ use two keyblades," Roxas replied. "Believe me, I have tried, I just can't do it. Whenever I try to summon both, all that comes in my hand is Kingdom Key."

The other three were quiet when Roxas said these words. Tifa then looked to Cloud and Leon. "Was Ansem's theory right?" She asked them.

"What are you talking about now?" Roxas asked.

Leon looked directly at Roxas. "Ansem theorized that this might happen. To explain it simply, even though you did develop your own heart, the only reason why you could wield two keyblades was because Ventus and Sora both could use one. But now that they are both gone, their light found its way into you, still giving you the ability to wield two keyblades…"

"Unless," Cloud continued. "Their light doesn't allow it."

Roxas was beyond confused now. "What?"

"Look, Roxas," Tifa continued for the other two. "No one can take away the ability to wield the keyblade, it just isn't possible. You still can summon two keyblades, but Sora and Ventus' light will not allow you to for some reason."

"And what reason is that?" Roxas questioned. 'What do I have to do to make Sora and Ven's light allow me to use two keyblades? What am I doing that is so bad that they don't except it?!"

"We don't know," Cloud said. "We don't even know if Ansem's theory about you being able to wield two keyblades is correct. We are just going off these theories because it is the only thing we have to go off of."

Roxas face palmed himself, completely confused. "Well what other theories does Ansem have?"

"About you being to wield two keyblades… none." Tifa said. "However, he did theorize who the other Guardians of Light could be, two of his predictions were you and Xion. He only managed to write down three possibilities, so that checks off two, but the last name he wrote down is something you might enjoy."

"And what is that?" He asked.

"Look at the evidence," Cloud began. "Kairi could use a keyblade, which could only mean her nobody could use one too, right? Kairi was one of the Guardians killed, so that means her nobody was released."

Roxas froze at the realization they just opened up to him.

"Wait, you're saying that… That she…?"

Before anyone could say anything else, Leon pulled out one of the journals, Ansem the Wise's journal, and showed him the page with the list of names of possible new Guardians of Light. His and Xion's name were already crossed off, but there was one name that still remained:

_Namine_.

* * *

_**"If you close your eyes**_

_**Does it almost feel like nothing change at all?**_

_**And if you close your eyes**_

_**Does it almost feel like you've been here**_** before?"**

**~Pompeii by Bastille**

* * *

**Sorry it took such a long time for me to update! Between finals, Christmas (Happy late holidays though!), and a bunch of other stuff I barely had any time to write!**

**But on the bright side, a lot of things happen in my absence! To start, they released a new KH 2.5 HD remix trailer and it looked BEAUTIFUL! My friend got me a Loki hoodie I have been DYING to have too! And I made it to 170+ favorite author's lists! (Can we make it to 200?)**

**ALSO THEY RELEASED A NEW HTTYD2 TRAILER AND OMG HICCUP! (faints)**

**Sigh... But some not good things also happened in my absence unfortunately... If you are wondering, my PS3 ran out of memory so I have to delete a ton of memory so I can play 2.5 and FFX when they come out... But they will be worth it so why am I even complaining?**

**So hopefully, now that I am on winter break, I should have more time to write and stuff. However, I am about ready to enter production of another story for the Reconnect Series (Divinity fans rejoice!). I do not know if I am going to release it soon though, since every time I have tried to work on two stories at the same time it never really worked out, but I am willing to try again. I am still debating though.**

**Also, I have a secret project I am working on for you guys... However, you will have to wait until Divinity II is released for more information!**

**So please R&R and look out for the next chapter!**

**SHADOWS ASSEMBLE!**


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